LÉ Eithne In The Med

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LÉ Eithne

Sorcha Pollak, in the Irish Times, reports:

“The Irish naval vessel LÉ Eithne is to be dispatched to the Mediterranean sea to participate in an EU search and rescue mission for migrants fleeing north Africa, the Minister for Defence has said. Simon Coveney told RTE radio [this] morning the navy was preparing the LÉ Eithne so it would be ready to leave for the Mediterranean by Friday, May 8th.”

“He said the vessel was being prepared in Haulbowline naval base in Cork harbour so that it could “successfully save people and drop them to local ports in the vicinity of the Mediterranean”.”

“Asked whether there was any plan in place to bring migrants back to the Republic of Ireland, Mr Coveney said it wouldn’t be practical to be picking people up from the sea and bringing them back to the State.”

LÉ Eithne to participate in migrant search and rescue (Sorcha Pollak, Irish Times)

LÉ Eithne will be ready to travel to Mediterranean on Friday (Morning Ireland, RTÉ)

Mediterranean migrants crisis: ‘Dozens drowned’ in new tragedy off Libya (International Business Times)

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31 thoughts on “LÉ Eithne In The Med

  1. everybody

    Surely the answer to stop people from throwing themselves into the sea is to NOT take any of them?

  2. Spaghetti Hoop

    Go forth Eithne.
    Hats off to Coveney – not the first example of good decision-making by he in response to emergencies. Previous Ministers would’ve sat pondering for months, worried about their vote collateral.

    1. YourNan

      they kinda are because you facilitated the destabilisation of the middle east by helping the US war machinr, it would only be fair if you actually did something to remedy the situation, but sure you can’t even run your country, nevermind helping others.

    2. Stephanenny

      You’re not my problem either yet, remarkably, if you had a heart attack tomorrow you’d be admitted to a health service partly funded by me.

  3. phil

    Will it be flying the irish flag ? if so anyone picked up from the sea , well ill bet you can guess the rest ….

    1. Clampers Outside!

      Shoulda gone to Specsavers mate…. “Asked whether there was any plan in place to bring migrants back to the Republic of Ireland, Mr Coveney said it wouldn’t be practical to be picking people up from the sea and bringing them back to the State.”

  4. Bazler

    Who asked them would we take them back to Ireland? Pick up a few hundred at best and then sail a few days back to Ireland and then a few days back. Yeah that would be a good idea. Jesus.

  5. mauriac

    shouldn’t the far too few Irish naval boats be used to patrol/protect Irish territorial water which is one of the largest in the world ?

    1. Slightly Bemused

      This was addressed on the programme this morning.The current fleet is 9 ships, and the latest addition (the LE James Joyce (P62) is due for delivery very soon – before the end of the month, I think. Not all vessels are at sea undertaking patrols at the same time, so there is little gap in our capability.

    2. The Old Boy

      Futile drugs war vs life-saving humanitarian mission? I would have thought the choice was obvious.

      1. mauriac

        not all they do and Spain,France,Italy,U.S.,U.K.,Russia etc have big navies in the area

  6. Otis Blue

    Didn’t the Maltese Navy dismiss the proposed donation of the L.E Eithne as “junk”?

    1. Slightly Bemused

      You are thinking of the former LE Aoife. The LE Eithne is the flagship of the Naval Service and still very much in commission.
      The Maltese Navy had concerns, but it was more the popular opinion that called it junk. Its not: it may be old and no longer up for North Atlantic conditions, but it is still very seaworthy.

      1. scottser

        i’ll give ya 200 hundred euro for her now, in cash.
        *spits on hand, holds it out for a deal..

  7. 评论员

    id say they would rather drown than come back here and be treated like a zoo animal while they sit on their hands for ten years while they seek asylum…actually no…zoo animals are treated better…
    in fact zoo animals are treated better than our gov treats some of it own citizens…
    throw burton to the lions

  8. Laughter Tack.

    We have some clowns running this country.

    A tiny island with a few boats.

    Idiotic.

    We can’t even patrol our own coast sufficiently, never mind wasting money and time on this PR nonsense!!!

    1. Don Pidgeoni

      PR nonsense, or you know, taking part in operations as part of the EU. Whatever…

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