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THE OUTGOING HEAD of the Irish Naval Service has said his organisation must change and not be “stuck in its ways” to respond to what he termed was the new Cold War level of threat.
Commodore Michael Malone, Flag Officer Commanding Irish Naval Service, was speaking at his retirement, known as a Stand Down Parade, in Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork Harbour yesterday.
Malone has served in the Navy since 1981 when he started as an engineering cadet. His career saw him work on major incidents such as the Air India disaster in 1985 when an airliner was blown up in a terror attack off the south coast killing 329 passengers.
Speaking about his career he also recalled his voyage to south east Asia onboard the newly built LÉ Niamh and the countless other patrols and rescue operations he completed in his 44 year career. He was also involved in the construction of the P50 and P60 classes of ships.
He spoke about the challenge of leading the organisation and the mammoth effort the navy undertook during Covid-19 to assist the State.
Yesterday, in torrential rain, his command of the Naval Service came to an end with a parade and speech to the personnel he led.
The Commodore’s tenure has been marked by difficulties in sending ships to sea and the problems of keeping people in the service. But he said that there have been some positive outcomes as the plans to reinvent the service have begun.
He hailed the capability projects underway, including the purchase of sonar for the service and the massive multi-million euro building project for accomodation at the Naval Base. This was undertaken to assist young sailors who were struggling to afford rental costs.
Malone spoke about his love for the service and the pride he felt in its sailors. During his speech he told the personnel to take the advice of “an old sailor” and embrace the change that was underway in the Irish Defence Forces and the Naval Service.
Speaking afterwards when asked about the biggest challenges for the Naval Service he said it was both the change programme and the efforts to keep current staff and recruit new sailors.
“The reality is that every organisation needs to change continually, and you have to embrace that. You can’t be stuck in your ways and there’s new technology, new ways of doing things, new operations that you need to consider, and new threats out there.
“So you have to employ all of the tools within the arsenal that you have to ensure that you can deal with those changing times,” he said.
Malone explained that the geopolitical situation and threat landscape has changed and he said it is reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s when he was serving.
“The reality is, I’ve seen for the vast majority of my time in the service, the threats were fairly benign.
“I was here before the coming down of the Berlin Wall, so I could see what happened prior to that, and what we’re seeing now is very similar to when the Cold War was happening. But the reality is that we’re now in these new changed times, and we have to deal with that, and we now need to employ the right technologies to deal with that,” he added.
Malone did not shy away from the difficulties in speaking to The Journal but said that he has seen great improvements in Haulbowline in recent years.
He said that there had been widespread head hunting of highly skilled naval personnel in recent years and that Cork’s industrial base was attracting sailors from the service.
“Certainly, the morale has increased dramatically. In the last year, year and a half, we’ve increased the number of personnel within the organisation by over 120 people, so that, in numerical terms, is about 120 extra personnel, or about a sixth of the Navy, has increased by that number. We’re still significantly below numbers we need.
“The reality is, we’re going in the right direction, and we have had seven of the eight ships operational in this calendar year.
“That’s challenging, because obviously we have less than the number that we’re supposed to have, and it puts a significant burden on people. But people within the Navy are magnificent personnel, both technically and themselves. And the reality is we rise to the challenge every time,” he added.
It is understood that interviews to replace Malone took place yesterday and a senior operations officer from Haulbowline is the favourite to take over in the coming weeks.
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