An Independent TD says Ireland has 'very little capability' to counter any threat from Russian ships.
The Defence Forces confirmed last night that two Russian ships which were travelling in the waters close to Galway and Kerry, had left Irish waters.
Both vessels had the capability to interfere with sub-sea cables.
The Irish Air Corps and Naval Service were monitoring them before they left Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone.
Independent TD and former Army Ranger Cathal Berry says crewing issues meant the ships couldn't be properly monitored.
Normal practice is if you have a sensitive convoy moving through your economic waters, you would put out at least one of your naval ships to shadow that convoy as it moves down. But unfortunately Ireland had no capability from accruing shortage point of view to to deploy a ship and have a maritime presence in the area. So we had to rely on the Air Corps. They can put up an aircraft for a number of hours at a time which is no substitute for having a naval ship on station."
