AS THE UKRAINIAN President arrived in Ireland, the Irish Naval Service off the coast of Dublin were watching a nearby cargo vessel which had previously been linked to cable damage in the Baltic Sea.

In January this year, the same ship was boarded by Swedish Special Forces over suspicions it was responsible for dragging an anchor across a telecommunications subsea cable. 

There have been several incidents in the Baltic involving cables – some have been judged to be accidents but others are believed to have been intentional. 

Several ships, including the one that appeared off Dublin are being investigated by police in Scandinavia and Baltic countries. 

The ship, which had arrived from the direction of the Northern coast was sitting off the Dublin coast on Monday night, and was subject of heavy surveillance by the Defence Forces.

It is believed this was one of the main roles for the LÉ William Butler Yeats at the time the aircraft carrying Volodymyr Zelenskyy was arriving.

Such was the surveillance that it is believed that it is unlikely the ship was involved in any sinister operation by Russia or other bad actors, including the presence of drones in the sky.  

In recent days and weeks there was heightened shadow fleet activity off the west coast – the Shadow Fleet is a group of approximately 500 vessels used by Russia to smuggle oil and gas in breach of sanctions. The ship that was off Dublin is not part of that grouping.

Other incidents

During Monday’s surveillance operation, those inside the Yeats spotted an anomaly on its monitors for a brief time. It was judged it was a surface boat or ship. 

The naval service ship went to the location where they believed the vessel was but there was no trace of it when they arrived. One informed source speculated that it may have been a real trace but could have also been a “spoofing” incident in which bad actors place a ship at a location by using false GPS data. This has been happening in Europe, particularly in the Baltics recently. 

Sources have been unable to confirm if the anomaly is associated with the cargo ship.

Overall operation

In the aftermath of Monday night’s drone incident, substantial issues between An Garda Síochána and the Irish Defence Forces are being raised, most specifically about whether there had been an official requests for assistance from gardaí to the Defence Forces.  

The Irish Defence Forces can only operate in support of An Garda Síochána, who have primary responsibility for national security, when they have been formally requested to do so in a document known as a C70. 

Known as Aid to the Civil Power (ATCP) it is facilitated by a senior garda officer requesting help from the military.  

Sources across the Irish security and defence ecosystem have told The Journal that there are concerns that this document was not requested.

A garda spokesperson refused to comment on “operational matters” when contacted. The Irish Defence Forces referred our query to An Garda Síochána.  

A high-level meeting is due to take place early next week between garda, military and civil service officials to discuss the incident in the Irish Sea. 

One key discussion point is associated with the response of the Irish Naval Service crew. 

There are inquiries ongoing this weekend on whether the crew should have fired at what they identified as drones above their ship.

It is understood that there were discussions on board the vessel about whether to engage and down the craft. There was also consideration of the Yeats launching a drone or firing a flare.

While the naval vessel was close to 12 nautical miles off the east coast at the time of the incident it is believed concerns for safety and the potential for shots falling on civilians – whether that be on land or with other ships in the area. 

The rules of engagement (ROEs) used by the crew will also be examined in any post mortem.

Sources familiar with the operation have said that there will also be an examination of why the Airbus 295 maritime patrol aircraft returned to Baldonnel and was not involved in helping to monitor the Yeats’ operation.