Ex-army colonel calls for Lough Swilly to host new west coast naval base

A retired army officer has called on the Department of Defence to consider Lough Swilly as the location for a new west coast naval base.

Declan O’Carroll, a retired colonel who served as commanding officer of the 28th Infantry Battalion headquartered at Finner Camp, said the development of a naval base in the north west is long overdue.

Colonel O’Carroll was speaking after the publication of the Government’s new National Maritime Security Strategy, aimed at safeguarding Irish sovereignty by increasing the country’s naval capabilities in security and defence.

Among the recommendations is the development of forward operating bases for the Naval Service on the east and west coasts to complement the State’s only existing base in Cork. The former ferry terminal at Dún Laoghaire in Dublin is understood to be under consideration as one location, and the Department of Defence strategy sets out a deadline of 2028 for a decision on the east coast. The strategy sets a deadline of 2030 to ‘explore the concept’ of a base on the west coast.

Photo Gallery: 28th Infantry Battalion Association Day

Col O’Carroll said he hopes the Department of Defence will do more than explore the concept of a base and will instead proceed with developing one.

“With so few naval ships available for service in the sea, and a big reduction in recruitment, the need to site a naval station on the west coast would appear obvious, especially in Lough Swilly at Rathmullan,” he said. “That’s long overdue.

“The world has gone security orientated and war, or the threat of war at least, has suddenly become a major issue again.

“Security has taken a completely different dimension in the last number of years,” he continued, touching on the war in Ukraine, recent tensions between President Trump in the United States and Iran, and the appearances of Russian ships in Irish territorial waters and the dangers they may pose to the transatlantic telecommunications cables.”

Lough Swilly has a long tradition as a naval base. It was extensively used by the British navy in the 19th and early 20th centuries and, after Ireland gained independence, Lough Swilly was one of the ‘treaty ports’ - along with two in Cork - which the British considered to be of such strategic importance for north Atlantic operations that they held onto it until 1938.

“Lough Swilly is large and deep, and one of the very few locations in the country that has the capacity to take large vessels,” Col O’Carroll said.

“You need to be strategic about this - you need to place these bases where they are most useful. And if it ever came to pass, Lough Swilly would be the ideal location for it.”

The former senior army officer said locations further south, such as Galway or Sligo, would not be suitable as they are “only halfway up the country”.

Col O’Carroll also believes the siting of a base on Lough Swilly would also help address the recruitment problems that have bedevilled the Naval Service by making it more attractive to people living outside of Munster.

A shortage of trained personnel means that up to half of the naval fleet of eight vessels cannot take to sea.

“Donegal is ripe for recruitment and both the 28th infantry battalion and the 24th battalion (FCA), when it existed, always had big numbers of recruits,” Col O’Carroll said.

“Donegal is a great maritime county, and I would have little doubt that it would be ripe for naval recruitment.

“Locating a base on Lough Swilly would bring a whole new dimension up here.”