Senior gardaí have questioned the Defence Forces’ handling of the security incident in the skies off Dublin on Monday night around the time the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s aircraft arrived for a State visit to Ireland.
The drone incident is regarded as a possible effort to disrupt the flight’s arrival or to cause embarrassment to the Republic and highlight its weak defences.
The Irish Times has learned of significant annoyance among senior Garda officers that the Defence Forces did not open fire on the drones, or even fire warning shots, as the French military did on Thursday night when drones were spotted over a nuclear submarine base.
Senior gardaí are annoyed at what one source termed the “weak” response from the Defence Forces, which had the LÉ William Butler Yeats in the area at the time as part of the State security operation for Mr Zelenskiy’s visit.
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Some Garda officers believe the Naval Service should have fired at the drones, especially as the incident unfolded so far out to sea with the risk of collateral damage negligible.
Garda Headquarters said its special detective unit (SDU) was leading the investigation into the events of Monday night, aided by the Defence Forces and international partners. It made no reference to how the Defence Forces had handled the incident.
When it was put to the Defence Forces senior gardaí were annoyed at the decision by the Naval Service not to fire on the drones, it said it “does not comment on speculation in relation to operations”.
“However, Óglaigh na hÉireann support to the security operation, led by An Garda Síochána, was successfully deployed in multiple means ultimately leading to a safe and successful visit by the President Zelensky to Ireland.”
The incident took place much further off the coast than previously reported, with several sources saying the drones lingered in an area about 12-13 nautical miles out to sea.
Though the drones flew into the path Mr Zelenskiy’s aircraft had earlier taken in the off-coast area, they did so only after a considerable time had elapsed. One source believed Mr Zelenskiy’s aircraft had landed in Dublin before the incident in the skies out to sea began to unfold.
No evidence has emerged to date that Russia or pro-Russian entities were involved. The origin of the drones, and the motivations for the incident, remain unknown. Garda sources said its investigation is focused on trying to map the path of the drones, including where they took off and landed.
Though the drones appeared to be sophisticated and expensive, and were expertly flown a long way out to sea, gardaí have not ruled out the possibility a non-State actor was involved.
Garda headquarters confirmed the SDU investigation on Friday after previously stating it was not investigating the matter.
The SDU is primarily tasked with investigating terrorism and threats to the State and has in the past been involved in investigations into suspected Russian espionage and other forms of hybrid warfare.
The drones were first spotted by the crew of LÉ William Butler Yeats which was positioned in Dublin Bay as part of the security operation in place for the Ukrainian president’s visit.
The Irish Times has learned another naval ship, the LÉ Aoibhinn, was also secretly positioned in the bay at the time, acting as an inner cordon.
The Yeats’s crew have now been fully debriefed on the drone sightings. It is understood officials have queried whether sentries may have mistaken civilian aircraft in a holding pattern over the bay for drones.
However, military officers have insisted the drones were flying much closer and much lower than the civilian aircraft. Footage was also obtained of the incident.
The drone sightings do not appear to have interfered with civilian air traffic, a review of air traffic control logs shows.
On Friday, at a meeting of the British-Irish Council in Wales Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed he had been briefed on the matter. It was the first official comment on the sightings since news broke of the incident on Thursday afternoon.
The newly formed ministerial National Security Council will meet later this month and the incident will form part of its discussions, he said.
Mr Martin declined to comment when asked if Russia was suspected of involvement. “I’m not going to make any comment until we have a full review,” he said.
The Russian embassy issued a statement on Friday condemning Mr Zelenskiy’s visit. However, it did not respond to queries about the drone incident.
