The Irish Examiner understands ever-declining general manpower levels and shortages of highly-skilled technical personnel are likely to lead to a further two ships being taken off operations if emergency action isn't taken. Apart from overall manpower levels falling to critical levels, he acknowledged that the navy is short of “certain specialties and skillsets". Mr Coveney acknowledged there are challenges in general manpower shortages across the entire Defence Forces and in particular in a number of specialist areas. “There are challenges in terms of retention in the Defence Forces because of the quality of people [in it]. In some ways the Defence Forces have become a victim of their own success,” he said.

Source: Irish Examiner July 17, 2020 18:29 UTC