Oil Spill Off Fastnet Rock

[absconded]

BAD news is this kind of spill is extraordinarily hard to deal with.

GOOD news is there is a interdepartmental special commitee now in place monitoring the situation.
So thats good ....................................!!

This spill which is estimated to be 1000 tonnes (so far) is heading straight for Wexford. If it doesn´t hit Wexford it´ll hit Wales. The Brits have realised the potential seriousness of it. Paddy hasn´t. There would be uproar in another maritime nation would be tremendous. Financial crisis or not. The fact that da brudder Ahern has taken till now to announce the hiring of a civilian tug to react only shows how badly we are prepared to deal with any maritime incident. Why is the Naval Service operating on a budget of 15 million a year with 8 inadequate ships for a patrol area 5 times the size of the country. Divert money from the Defence vote to the Navy who have the expertise, or increase the Defence vote. This is a disgrace. We should have an equiped state ship on the scene dealing with this at sea before it becomes a serious issue ashore. Give the Navy a ship for this type of thing for Gods sake.

[He3]

They are too busy buying overpriced helicopters that aren't certified to carry troops. You can't expect miracles. Spending for hardware we would use here every day is in the miracle category.

[absconded]

They are too busy buying overpriced helicopters that aren't certified to carry troops. You can't expect miracles. Spending for hardware we would use here every day is in the miracle category.

betya those helicopters can carry a minister the weight of beirt saighduiri though.

[spidermom]

This spill which is estimated to be 1000 tonnes (so far) is heading straight for Wexford. If it doesn´t hit Wexford it´ll hit Wales. The Brits have realised the potential seriousness of it. Paddy hasn´t. There would be uproar in another maritime nation would be tremendous. Financial crisis or not. The fact that da brudder Ahern has taken till now to announce the hiring of a civilian tug to react only shows how badly we are prepared to deal with any maritime incident. Why is the Naval Service operating on a budget of 15 million a year with 8 inadequate ships for a patrol area 5 times the size of the country. Divert money from the Defence vote to the Navy who have the expertise, or increase the Defence vote. This is a disgrace. We should have an equiped state ship on the scene dealing with this at sea before it becomes a serious issue ashore. Give the Navy a ship for this type of thing for Gods sake.

Can you imagine ,if this hit,what it will do to the fishermen(already screwed by THIS crowd) in Wexford. Not to mind the beaches!!! Wexfords tourism industry would be wiped out this year.
The south and north slobs in Wexford are bird life sanctuaries!!

It would be a complete disaster!!!

As for the Navy!!!


We had to wait for the largest cash of cocaine(in th EU) to wash up on a beach in Cork to even begin talikng about the Navy in this country

[absconded]

Can you imagine ,if this hit,what it will do to the fishermen(already screwed by THIS crowd) in Wexford. Not to mind the beaches!!! Wexfords tourism industry would be wiped out this year.
The south and north slobs in Wexford are bird life sanctuaries!!

It would be a complete disaster!!!

As for the Navy!!!


We had to wait for the largest cash of cocaine(in th EU) to wash up on a beach in Cork to even begin talikng about the Navy in this country

Just another example of this govt having absolutely no compass, (sic) The coast and our seas are a huge resource and responsibility, and they have been neglected at out peril.

[OMahonyMunster]

The iodine tabs have gone off by now spidermom.

Down to the Holy Water.

I threw mine out recently, well out of date!

[thebig C]

Because we don't have a proper Navy. And worse people want us to cut defence spending instead of increasing it.

Exactly! The Navy should be bigger, the Army should be smaller. We have 8 ships to patrol the some of the largest territorial waters in the EU!

On the Dept of Defence website....I think its tongue in cheek when they call those 8 ships a Flotilla!

[wexfordman]

I threw mine out recently, well out of date!

You can always get a fresh supply down your local parish!!

[thebig C]

RT: News : Oil spill exaggerated ? Russian Navy

Nice to see unbiased reporting of this matter in Russia Its funny, during the Georgian war some of our Left Wing friends were holding up RussiaToday as a paragon of media virtue....not so funny now is it!

C

[absconded]

Exactly! The Navy should be bigger, the Army should be smaller. We have 8 ships to patrol the some of the largest territorial waters in the EU!

On the Dept of Defence website....I think its tongue in cheek when they call those 8 ships a Flotilla!

There is nobody, not one office in the Dept of Defence dedicated to Naval matters.
The Dept of Defence exists to control the Army, and the Army exists to promote Generals at the expense of serving the country with a proper Navy & Air Force.
The public are getting very bad value from the Defence Forces in terms of the Defence requirements of the state. The critical requirement is for more Naval assets with more capabilities than they currently have and more heavy lift military spec aircraft to deal with emergencies ashore. This has been evidenced by this oil spill. It´s only a warning of what could happen in the future. We are an Island after all. It´s no good to have a coastguard which hires in civilian tugs on an adhoc basis It´s an accident waiting to happen. We should have a navy with the capabilities to monitor foreign Naval Exercises being conducted so close to our coast. As we have seen, the initial response of the Russians was to deny that anything had spilled at all. God knows whats happening. And whats worse is that our Dept of Defence doesn´t seem to care.