Plans to deploy a Naval Service vessel to the waters off North Africa by the Government is expected to be approved so to enable enforcement of a UN arms embargo on Libya.

The contribution of the naval vessel to Operation Irini is expected to take place in June and run for a period of seven weeks, as The Irish Times has learned.

The last time the Naval Service had deployed a vessel on an overseas mission was in 2018 with vessels among them L.É. Samuel Beckett taking part in Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean. On that occasion the crew were awarded recognition of their role in disrupting human-trafficking and smuggling in the central Mediterranean.

Operation Sophia is only the third such mission in Naval Service history.

It is hoped by military management that the resumption of overseas naval deployments will assist to address the ongoing crew crisis. The  retention crisis is affecting the Defence Forces and in particular the Naval Service which has led to a recruitment drive (see story on seeking overseas sailors).

More from the newspaper here.