A lack of capability from the Defence Forces to even shadow Russian ships off the Irish coast is 'simply not good enough for a sovereign state.'
That's according to Cathal Berry, Independent TD for Kildare South and a former Army Ranger.
He was speaking as several commercial Russian vessels, which were off the west coast at the weekend, have now left Irish waters.
A Defence Forces spokesperson said: "These vessels have now left Ireland's EEZ.
"The Irish Air Corps and the Irish Naval Service continue to monitor activity in Irish waters and to undertake Maritime Defence and Security Operations (MDSO) throughout Ireland's maritime domain".
The Russian vessel Fortuna off the Irish coast. Picture by: Irish Defence Forces (105 Sqn, Irish Air Corps)The Russian vessels were tracked over the last number of days "both outside and inside Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone", the Defence Forces said.
Deputy Berry told Newstalk Breakfast this is near a new subsea communications cable.
"They were loitering around Galway for a bit and... a new subsea communications cable was opened in November connecting Galway to Iceland," he said.
"There's a good possibility they were at least monitoring the situation up there.
"They're moving down from Murmansk in Russia, down to the African coast, but loitering over the west coast of Ireland to escape weather and to monitor some cables - and then to strategically signal to the Irish Government that they have that capability is certainly a possibility as well".
A Russian vessel off the Irish coast. Picture by: Irish Defence Forces (105 Sqn, Irish Air Corps)Deputy Berry said this shows Ireland's limits when it comes to defence.
"This is the big issue really: that Ireland has very little capability to counter what's happening off our west coast," he said.
"We couldn't even put a naval ship out there over the weekend because of the current problem in Haulbowline in Cork.
"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.
"Unfortunately, Ireland had no capability from a crewing shortage point of view to deploy a ship... so we had to rely on the Air Corps.
"They can put up an aircraft for a number of hours at a time and monitor the situation, but there's no substitute for having a naval ship on station".
The Russian vessel Ymka off the Irish coast. Picture by: Irish Defence Forces (105 Sqn, Irish Air Corps)Deputy Berry said Ireland is also 'unique' in having no sonar capability.
"The other issue is that Ireland has absolutely no sovereign underwater capability whatsoever," he said.
"Not only can we not intervene in relation to what's happening below the waves, but we can't even see below the waves.
"We don't have any vessels with a sonar capability, which makes us unique in the European Union".
Cargo on the deck of the Russian vessel Fortuna off the Irish coast. Picture by: Irish Defence Forces (105 Sqn, Irish Air Corps)Deputy Berry said the vessels were quite close to Kerry.
"We're an island nation, we have a responsibility for over 15% of EU waters," he said.
"It's just completely unacceptable that three commercial Russian vessels, in a time of war, can move down the west coast of our country [and] loiter in and around our territorial waters.
"They were no more than 13 nautical miles off the coast of Kerry, and that's simply just not good enough for a sovereign state," he added.
Listen back to the full interview below:
