The European Union's Sanctions Envoy has said Ireland needs to make significant improvements to its Naval Service in order to better monitor its maritime zone and address the ongoing movement of sanctioned Russian vessels off the west coast.
David O'Sullivan told RTÉ that Ireland "really needs to beef up our capacity and patrol and police our territorial waters," and described the Naval Service as in "poor shape."
Mr O'Sullivan, a former EU Ambassador to the United States, is now responsible for trying to stop Russia's attempts to evade European sanctions which are designed to cut off funding for its war in Ukraine.
Earlier RTÉ reported that vessels belonging to Russia’s so called 'shadow fleet’ regularly transited through the Irish maritime Exclusive Economic Zone – a large area extending into the Atlantic off the west coast which is the site of major undersea cables and shipping lanes.
READ: Data flags hundreds of Russian 'shadow fleet' visits to Irish EEZ
The shadow fleet vessels are used to help Russia export oil and circumvent oil price caps imposed as part of western sanctions.
Asked about what Ireland could do to help tackle the activities of shadow fleet vessels off Ireland, Mr O’Sullivan said "unfortunately I think the Irish Naval Serice is not equipped to be able to deal with this at the present time".
There are "many reasons" why the Irish naval service needs to be revamped, he said, adding the shadow fleet is a "new imperative to which Ireland will have to respond."
Non-military vessels – including sanctioned vessels – can legally transit through an EEZ but are required to have the correct insurance in place when moving through certain areas, including busy shipping lanes like those off the west coast.
However, analysts say the vessels in the Russian shadow fleet are typically poorly maintained and lack proper insurance.
'Shadow fleet' vessels have also conducted activities considered risky at sea, including turning off location transponders and conducting ship-to-ship oil transfers.
The data reported earlier by RTÉ showed that some 245 shadow fleet vessels passed through Ireland’s maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) more than 450 times so far this year.
The figures were provided by maritime intelligence company Windward which uses satellite imagery and AI technology to spot, analyse and monitor ships, including those which turn their transponders off.
Windward’s data included information on routes taken through the Irish EEZ by 72 vessels which have been directly named on sanctions lists.
Experts have warned that the movement through Irish waters of shadow fleet vessels poses a serious environmental risk and undermines international efforts to isolate Russia's energy sector which is used to fund the country's war in Ukraine.
David O’Sullivan accepted there "would, in any event, be limits to what the naval service could do," to a non-military vessel within an EEZ, before adding "but obviously this pleads, yet again, our vulnerability to this kind of activity, to the risks to undersea cables, and the fact that we really need to beef up our capacity and patrol and police our territorial waters."
He said the European Union wants to stop the transit of these shadow fleet vessels but said it is a difficult task to completely stop their transit.
"Member states are tightening their controls. The UK has done that through the English Channel" he said.
"I think what is now happening in the Irish case, is that the Russian ships are going around the coast of Ireland into Ireland's economic zone, but not our territorial waters, and escaping the kind of checks say in the Baltic Sea.... or that the British are doing, of asking to see proof of the insurance."
Asked about its monitoring of 'shadow fleet' activity within the Irish EEZ, the Defence Forces said: "While it is our policy not to comment on specific operational matters, all relevant information gathered in support of Maritime Domain Awareness is shared in a timely manner with the appropriate national and international authorities.
"The Defence Forces, through the deployment of Naval Service and Air Corps assets, maintains a continuous presence and vigilance within Ireland's maritime domain. We monitor all activity within our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as part of our routine operations to ensure the security and integrity of our waters."
