TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said there are limits to what he can put into the public domain when it comes to national security matters and the drone breaches. 

Last week, The Journal revealed that four unidentified military-style drones breached a no-fly zone and flew towards the flight path of Zelenskyy’s plane at sea near Dublin Airport as he arrived in Ireland on Monday night.

Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach said sought a briefing immediately on it and has received that report.

“Obviously, it is something that will be discussed at the National Security Council later,” he told the Dáil, with that meeting due to take place before Christmas. 

“The visit of President Zelenskyy was effective from a security perspective. I want to make it clear to everybody that an incident did occur on that night.

“A small number of unidentified drones were observed in the vicinity of a Naval Service vessel on patrol off the coast of Dublin. The drones were not a threat to President Zelenskyy’s aircraft – that needs to be clear – because it had safely landed quite some time prior to the incident, nor were they a threat to his departure,” said Martin. 

He said an operational response was put in place that was appropriate to the circumstances by the commander of the Naval vessel at the time and, subsequently, by the police and military authorities working in close co-operation.

Martin told the Dáil that the gardaí liaised with its Ukrainian partners throughout the visit of the Zelenskyy on the security arrangements, including with regard to this incident.

‘A concerning incident’ 

“The Garda special detective unit is carrying out an investigation of the circumstances of the incident with input from the Defence Forces. It is a very concerning incident, as I said, like other similar incidents in other European states. The circumstances are suggestive of this being part of an ongoing Russian inspired hybrid campaign against European Union and Ukrainian interests,” he added. 

The Taoiseach said An Garda Síochána is substantively enhancing its anti-drone capabilities, stating it has significant capabilities on land.

“The navy has so likewise and the military has the capabilities generally throughout all three strands, air, sea and land. We will continue to enhance that and harness all technology available in the country, both private sector but also on our university campuses that can assist in that regard,” said Martin. 

Martin said no member state yet, bar France in the past 48 hours or so, has attempted to disable drones or bring them down for different reasons.  

“That is a matter we have to leave to the operational people in charge. We cannot dictate that sort of a response here,” said the Taoiseach. Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach if Ireland has the capacity to take down drones, for which Martin said: “We have the capacity.”