A Ship Called Dignity

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Former Irish Naval Service patrol shop LÉ Aisling; Its new owner, Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who has renamed the vessel ‘Dignity’.

This morning.

Further to the Irish Naval Service suspending its rescue missions in the Mediterranean earlier this year…

And its involvement in training the Libyan coastguard for the EU’s Operation Sophia in which asylum seekers fleeing Libya were being intercepted in the Mediterranean and being brought back to detention centres in Libya...

Colm Keena, in The Irish Times, reports:

In 2017, the State sold the decomissioned LÉ Aisling to a Dutch shipping broker for €110,000.

A year later, the Dutch company sold it to a company in United Arab Emirates for €473,000.

Almost immediately, the UAE company sold it to a company in Libya for €1.3million.

The vessel is now called Al Karama (Dignity), it’s been refitted with weapons and belongs to a “warlord” Khalifa Haftar.

Good times.

Libyan warlord paid €1.35m for ex-Irish Naval vessel sold by Ireland for €100,000 (Colm Keena, The Irish Times)

Previously: Meanwhile, On The Liffey

Pics: GalwayShips/Getty

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26 thoughts on “A Ship Called Dignity

    1. Brother Barnabas

      youd likely never be able to unravel it but curious to see if the Dutch shipping broker had any links – indirect or otherwise – with anyone in FG

      1. dav

        well he made a great profit on the sale and blushirts are always worried about vulture funds making good profits or tax dodging corporates not paying taxes on their profits..

        1. Rob_G

          €100k… I could have actually bought that, with a little budgeting in other areas of my life. Only slightly more than a really top-of-the-range car (and apparently doesn’t suffer the same rate of depreciation; quite the opposite, actually).

          1. Steph Pinker

            Rob, It would take more than a ship called Dignity to afford you any…

            Although, if your BFF homeless minister, Eoghan Murphy gave it a lick of paint, you could EASILY dump 100 families in it for €2000 P/P P/M and still charge the Irish taxpayers for expenses from your plush apartment and FG account in Belgium!

            You’ve such potential as a brilliant entreprenhoor! Make sure you fob in and out, and don’t mention swings :(

  1. Harry M

    Libya is a sanctioned country, we couldn’t have sold a navy vessel to them.

    Those that could or did commanded a higher price

  2. Cian

    I wonder if there were any changes made to the ship between each sale.

    There have been similar stories on BS about properties that have sold twice in succession with huge markups….only to discover that the 1st buyer gutted and rebuilt the entire house.

  3. Cian

    I wonder if there were any changes made to the ship between each sale.

    There have been similar stories on BS about properties that have sold twice in succession with huge markups….only to discover that the 1st buyer gutted and rebuilt the entire house.

    LE Aisling was renamed Avenhorn. Here is an article that says “The new owners plan to refurbish Avenhorn which is registered in Belize and then place the vessel for re-sell.”
    https://afloat.ie/resources/news-update/item/35639-avenhorn-arrival-nieuwe-waterweg

    Here is a picture of a possible yacht conversion on the renamed Avenhorn:
    http://www.sabdes.com/conversion-52meter/0pgfahycwktxvus6qoe4cxbbzw70ku

  4. Slightly Bemused

    Hopefully the next time we commission a warship we will go back to those wonderful evocative names! I know the rationale for the change to famous Irish writers’ names, but the fashion of using mythological names dates from the very first ship our State commissioned (the Murchú, which was ironically also the ship under Royal Navy ownership that shelled the GPO in 1916).

    The argument that other nations may not understand the relevance holds no water. The name of a ship should not matter to other countries, it should be relevant to the country commissioning it. If a person from another country does not understand, it is a great intro for a sailor to give a quick run-down on our history and mythology!

    When they decommission the LE Eithne, I would love that the next ship is commissioned with the same name, and carries on her honours!

    And of course for the Aisling, the Niamh, the Órla, The Róisín, the Ciara! And bring back the older ones like the Ferdia, the Setanta, the Murchú, Clíona… the list can go on!

    Let us be proud of Irish names on Irish ships! And be proud of our Navy, and those who serve aboard!

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