DETAILS HAVE EMERGED of the new legislation that will enable Irish Defence Forces personnel to board and inspect suspicious ships such as Shadow Fleet vessels. 

Minister for Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee brought urgent proposals to amend the Defence Act to Cabinet today.

It is understood the urgency of the legislation is directly related to growing concerns about the Shadow Fleet transiting off the coast and also the need to have this legislation in place in advance of our upcoming EU Presidency.

The new powers will allow sailors and other Defence Forces personnel to act unilaterally and to board vessels and powers of inspection of documents and equipment, as well as the ability to direct a vessel or re-route it.

Speaking to The Journal at the Munich Security Conference the Minister said that Ireland was considering boarding and inspecting Russian oil smuggling ships, known as the Shadow Fleet, as they pass through the seas off Ireland. 

McEntee also launched the new National Maritime Security Strategy (MSS) which outlined the change in the law as a key action that was urgently needed.

This new legislation would remove the need for members of the Defence Forces to be sworn in as Customs Officers as happened in the case of the MV Matthew seizure off the south coast. 

Sources have said that there is no intention at present for Ireland to begin seizing ships as has happened elsewhere. It is understood the issue would be that the State has nowhere to store the ships long term. 

Officials in the Department of Defence have worked closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Attorney General to develop short legislation which will begin its passage shortly through the Oireachtas.

The legislative proposals do not provide for any arrests, prosecutions or detentions of the ships. The reason for is that there will have to be a much broader legal examination of the issue that the MSS suggested. 

As part of this new legislation, the Minister will seek to amend the Defence Act 1954 for the long-standing role of the Defence Forces in aid to the civil power, that is, An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners.

This follows advice from the Attorney General and it will also need to be further considered by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan.

It is understood that the Attorney General has also recommended that the new legislation would lay out use of force by members of the Defence Forces in circumstances where there is a potential threat to a military installation or the airspace overhead.

Currently, the use of force in such circumstances is authorised under regulations made by the Minister under the Defence Act 1954.

The Minister intends that these proposed amendments should progress by means of a Committee or a Report Stage amendment to another Bill, which is progressing through the parliamentary process.