Interesting articles

Looks like Law & order will stop being the issue no one wants to talk about now...who'll want to be called enabler of what we're watching tonight

Nope. There's nobody shooting anyone, bringing the army out would give the fash exactly what they want.

People,

Get a grip, a few feral criminal scum using a far right call to arms as an excuse to wreck a small area of the centre of the nations capital is no justification for sending in the Army.

The public order are perfectly well equipped to deal with incidents of this nature, the issue here being the speed at which it escalated.

There were thirty odd oxygen thieves in the district court this morning as a result of last night, they'll be back in court in January wondering why their moment of madness ruined their christmas, and binned all their holiday plans for 2024.

It wasn't even close to what we saw during the reclaim the streets protests, or even the Shell to sea shower.

Don't give them the oxygen of publicity by even suggesting the Army was required. Even when an angry mob burned down the british embassy, the army were there, but not required.

Only tinpot dictatorships bring the army onto the streets to control petty crime.

If the Brugha closed tomorrow all the soldiers in there would move either to McKee or Baldonell. still well within the city. You wouldnt have to go to "the country" for army reinforcements.

It was a few tracker knackers doing their Christmas shoplifting, no more.

The safety, or lack of it, of Dublin's city centre is not something that happened on either Drew or the ministers watch. Is been this way for quite a while (possibly since the closure of Clerys). I was with colleagues one evening either in 2013 or 2014 at the Grand Central, our seats looked onto Abbey Street/O'Connell Street. Outside, the usual wombles gathered fighting with each other & passers by. The Mobile garda station was parked outside the GPO at this time. One of the Homeless charities came along, after some negotiation, shared what food they had brought evenly among the gathered, and moved on, after which point an all out brawl kicked off, 7pm of a tuesday or wednesday evening. "Ordinary people" entered the Grand Central for safety until it died down. When we got the luas from Abbey st, it was almost mandatory to find some crowd having a brawl of some sort outside Jervis. We usually stayed around Parnell Square when we had to visit dublin, and took our evening meal somewhere on O'Connell st. The advantage with there being if there was some brawl happening, the street is wide enough you can cross, to avoid the brawl, or head down Henry st and loop around. In the end we gave up on Parnell Square and sourced hotel rooms south of the river instead.

If I'm coming to town for a concert, I'll drive up, stay southside, park in a nearby multi story (where all concert attendees are using) and drive away immediately after. Nobody is going to the city centre any more. My Niece works in Blackrock, Lives in Clontarf. Never socialises in the city, apart from the occasional concert.

The city centre is somewhere only tourists visit.

Ireland's lack of sonar forced British navy to chase Russian sub away from Cork Harbour (irishexaminer.com)

This is wild. So many inaccuracies in one article.

No ship has ASW sonar between 1970 and 1984, and Eithne's sonar didn't last long in service.

The Vampires entered service in the 1950s, and retured in the 1970s, being replaced with aircraft of similar ability, the Fouga Magister, which served until the early 2000s.

12 miles south of the entrance to Cork harbour is still International waters, and not our problem. If the RN choose to drop sonobouys, that's their gig. However:

Under part IV of UNCLOS, coastal states enjoy an ‘Exclusive Economic Zone’ (EEZ) out to 200 nautical miles from their coast, with enforcement jurisdiction over economic activities therein. This includes regulatory control of fishing activities, hydrocarbon exploration, and any other natural resources in the water or below the seabed (article 56).

As such, the coastal state can, insofar as UNCLOS provides, prevent activities that impinge on its ability to enjoy economic access exclusively within these waters. This right of exclusivity is balanced, however, by the fact that the oceans beyond territorial waters, including the EEZ itself, are considered a part of the high seas – one of the least regulated regions left on the planet.

Military exercises in Ireland’s EEZ (lawsociety.ie)

It's a bit alarming that they are able to encroach close to the national only naval base and only oil refinery.

CNN report on the Irish Troops on patrol

Seems to be quite the uptick in piracy around the Arabian peninsula of late.

If only we had the spare capacity to send a ship, or MSA to join Operation Atalanta. It would provide invaluable experience to the crew and to the operational management capability of the naval service.

Indeed....The NS needs a decent frigate or corvette with ASW AAW kit on board and a citadel etc if they want to come out to play with the big boys who have a proper navy not a coast guard.

The Germans have made a small H145m order

confirming the BLOCK 4 ruin is being rebuilt at Haulbowline. Nice pic of the P71s

Former flagship of Irish Naval Service to be scrapped (rte.ie)

RTE Catches up with something happening outside dublin.

And they listened to it. I might also point out that such concerns were raised by many posters here, maybe we should get a bit of commission?🤣

for sure. Reality check.

What Ireland "could" do now is take over in places where these ships were, often carrying out duties where their colour was the only sophisticated weaponry was required, freeing up the ships with the means to combat drone and pirate attacks for this important mission.

Most of the world is unaware just how important a free flowing Bab-el-Mandeb is to world trade. Yes some carriers have chosen to avoid it and round the horn instead, adding 5 days to their journey. A cost they wil of course pass on to their clients, who will in turn pass it onto their clients etc.

All the oil from the Gulf states going to the Med or Europe.

Every Container coming from China or india.

All the new EVs being produced for BMW in China, any vehicle made in Japan or Korea.

Oh, for those suggesting Panama, that's also choked due to a water shortage, and they are about managing 25 ships a day, with a wait time of up to 3 weeks. The number making the passage may drop further in coming months it is feared.

I expect the Houthi are about to reach the FO part of FAFO.