AFM personnel have expressed a number of concerns on both the policy of accepting donated hand-me-down equipment from other armed forces, as well as the actual capabilities of the LÉ Aoife.

There are a number of concerns about the vessel. One of them is the fact that the vessel is old – 36 years old – to be precise. She has travelled enough miles to circumnavigate the globe 28 times. In fact, Irish media reported that the vessel developed a malfunction while in Cork’s Deep Water Quay on Saturday 24 August of 2013. 

The Irish media quoted a navy spokesman as saying that the vessel developed a malfunction and was propelled forwards, instead of backwards and into a pontoon. The vessel was damaged, but not below the waterline. Irish media also quoted the spokesman as saying that the vessel’s age could have had something to do with the malfunction.

Another concern is that the vessel blew a gasket in September 2014, and a resulting check found that the vessel contained asbestos which should have been, according to the Irish media, removed 10 years earlier. The discovery led to a fleet-wide inspection. The vessel was subsequently certified to be asbestos free, however, concerns still remain. 

The vessel was supposed to be auctioned off this month at Irish auctioneers Domnic J Daly. Although news reports in the Republic of Ireland stated that the navy had given away the vessel instead of selling it, a listing on the auctioneer’s website states that it had been instructed to dispose of the vessel if it had not already sold it – contradicting what the Irish media were saying. 

Another concern that the AFM has is that the vessel is “past its sell by date”. In today’s age, vessels are usually built to last for 30 years, where as this one in 36 years old. It has no capabilities to launch a small craft from its stern as the new vessels do, something which is deemed essential in search and rescue operations involving flimsy craft that migrants often use for the crossings.

Personnel also said that while the vessel is suitable in terms of stability, it does not have the speed of a modern ship with a top-speed capability of 17knots. This, they said, could hamper rescue efforts in terms of reaching the target area in good time. One more issue that sailors have is that the vessel does not have a large holding area where migrants can be put once they are brought aboard.

Yet another worry is the fact that the vessel operates with an optimum crew of five officers and 40-odd hands at deck – a large number of personnel considering the ranks within the Maritime Squadron.

Personnel also said that going back to second hand assets reverses the AFM adopted policy of rationalisation of equipment hardware on inventory, which saw the AFM move out of the colonial era inherited hand-me-downs we from the British and the subsequent multiple donations of second hand and phased out equipment from Germany, Libya, North Korea and the USA.

“These proved over a long span of years to be costly inefficient and ineffective where money was spent to perpetually patch up repeatedly failing old equipment which constrained severely the range, quality and nature of missions, duties, tasks and overall operations,” a retired AFM source said.

“This donation of a military vessel beyond its useful service life severely reverses back the clock of things and is going to see history repeat itself. And it sets a very very bad precedent for other junk to follow being dumped on us,” he said.

He continued: “The Irish donation is not envisaged to help in any significant manner the AFM's operations on the high seas.  Lacking a helo deck, a dock for launching in a fast manner a RHIB dinghy, it will only pose a major human resources manning headache to an already stretched AFM Maritime Squadron. The AFM simply lacks not only the manpower, but also the technical skill set of persons to operate it safely, especially if it comes with the gun ordnance it carried on Irish missions.”

“Deja vu maybe of how the Maltese adopted Vietnam War era or ex-East German border guard boats, adapting them from riverine inshore operations in South East Asia or the frigid waters of the North Sea, to the locally warm scenarios the AFM find themselves involved,” he concluded.