The government’s long awaited maritime security strategy was published yesterday, including aspirations for a west coast naval installation.
The first such policy document in the history of the State, it recommends new facilities on Ireland’s east and west coasts to police the country’s vast sea area. These bases are understood to support “manned and un-manned military assets” including vessels and drones.
“To support this increase in capacity and capability in the maritime domain, options should be explored to expand the State’s existing naval infrastructure while also considering options for potential expansion through the development of forward operating bases on the East and West coasts,” states the National Maritime Security Strategy report, launched by Defence Minister Helen McEntee yesterday.
The new plan comes amid increasing international scrutiny of the country’s capabilities in its self-defence, and security concerns ahead of Ireland hosting the European Union presidency for six months from July 1.
On Tuesday, former Transport Minister, Eamon Ryan, penned an opinion piece in the national press, suggesting a naval base should be established in Galway Bay. He identified the deep water port of Rossaveal as ideal, where a €30 million harbour expansion has been stalled due to planning difficulties.
Last June, Tanáiste Simon Harris said there was a “compelling” case for a permenant Naval Service presence in Galway, based on recommendations from an in-depth review of the Defence Forces.
The 2022 Commission on the Defence Forces recommended Galway city as a desired location for a new Naval Reserve facility. This Commission recommended that new and specialist military reserve units should be established in areas of large population density likely to provide appropriate skill sets.
History
Throughout its history, Galway has had surprisingly little naval infrastructure, despite the city itself thought to have grown up around a wooden naval fort, Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe, built by King of Connacht, Turlough O’Connor, to house his fleet, in 1124. Later rebuilt in stone, then destroyed by fire and war, remains of this castle were discovered beneath the Aran Sweater Market, on Quay Street, in 2016.
Ceann an bhalla, today known as the Spanish Arch, was originally constructed as a naval gun emplacement built to protect Galway from a feared Spanish invasion during the sixteenth century. In the early 1800s, three Martello towers were erected at strategic points around Galway Bay to protect approaches to Galway city and Oranmore from French invasion.
In the nineteenth century, Renmore Barracks briefly hosted a Naval gun emplacement, while in the city centre, there was a naval battery located at the junction of Fairhill and Grattan Road manned by Royal Navy reservists from the Claddagh, known locally – and perhaps derisively – as the ‘The Gunna Mórs’.
