#NATOrefugees- NATO military vessels writes The Irish Times, are to be deployed to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece crackdown on criminal networks smuggling migrants and refugees into Europe, allied defence ministers said on Thursday.

The move, discussed by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ministers for the first time at a meeting in Brussels, is aimed at helping the continent tackle its worst migration crisis since the second World War, with more than a million asylum seekers arriving last year.

Although the plan is still to be detailed by NATO generals, member states are likely to use ships to work with Turkish and Greek coast guards and the European Union border agency Frontex.

Afloat adds the Irish Naval Service (a non-NATO member) last month had plans in place to deploy another patrol ship, LÉ Roisin (P51) to the Mediterranean Sea. This would be in the event that the next government decides to renew last year’s humanitarian mission to the region. 

Also last year, the Defence Budget for 2016 was announced and the White Paper on Defence policy was published, to read more click here.