From BreakingNews.ie, 15th July 2010
[
](Government to splash out €100m on navy ships)
If nothing else, should anyone criticise the decision then the government can always dust off the old “at least we’re not as bad as Greece” deflection defence.
From the WSJ, 10th July 2010
[
](The Submarine Deals That Helped Sink Greece - WSJ)
Blue Horseshoe
those they are replacing have been around a good long while, this has been put off and put off. i
They’re obviously anticipating a flourishing black market and trying to nip smuggling in bud.
This is fantastic foresight by our sworn protectors 
Would it have anything to do with the requirement for a certain level of defence spending post Lisbon?
I believe that the cost of these ships will be financed by cutbacks within the defence budget.
About €14 million per year until 2017.
They’d a made it back quicker by selling the drugs they got floating down Cork or where ever it was. 
Don’t know about the level of defence spending, but I think you’ll find Lisbon allows for the German submarines to be known as eu-boats…
u dont think the u boats are there to stop supplies reaching any potential rebellious country, before the wehrmacht come marching in with their New Order 
In fairness we live on an Island, a Navy is knda important. Now sending ships to Latin America on a jolly is another matter.
Wow, that L E Niamh sure gets about - but Latin America is quite a different gig to the Rugby Cup Final in Edinburgh last year (where it berthed right next to the Royal Yacht Britannia, the only other ship in the dock, shown right behind it in the pic below).
Isn’t the Britannia, like, blue?
Perhaps they plan on Sailing them at speed up the Shannon until they break the country in 2 (physically this time).
A little emigration help for those of you west of Longford.
Rumour has it both vessels are Renaults.
Good point, it should normally be navy/blue, but looks whitish in that photo, like someone doctored the picture - MI5 maybe?
Colour aside, what was the LE Niamh doing docked right next to RY Britannia?
Pimms anyone?
Further evidence that this country has already ‘defaulted’ and is being run directly from the continent.
No bad thing if I wake up to Spanish zumo de naranja, a French boulangerie, and Italian coffee.
Ah, is that what you’ve been drinking. I begin to doubt the “only other vessel in the dock” thesis…
its not a bad deal, the €100m is spread over until 2017, if one of the older 30 year plus boats was to sink through metal fatigure etc can you imagine the compo costs to their families? new boats would be cheaper
The ship she’s moored beside appears to be the FPV Minna of the ‘Scottish Navy’.
I was wondering about the threat of a coup from cuts in defence spending in Greece.
For the last decade Greece has been the largest importer of conventional weapons in Europe according to Al Jazeera.
english.aljazeera.net/news/europ … 38686.html
Their array of armoured vehicles is just astonishing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eq … lenic_Army