Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s plane landed at Dublin Airport “quite some time” before unidentified drones were deployed, Micheál Martin has said.
The Taoiseach said the leader’s visit to Dublin last week “was effective from a security point of view” and the drones seen in Dublin Bay posed him no threat.
He also defended the non-interception of the drones, saying no EU member state had attempted to disable or takedown such unmanned aerial vehicles with the exception of France, which had only done so in recent days.
“A small number of unidentified drones were observed in the vicinity of a Naval Service vessel on patrol off the coast of Dublin,” Mr Martin said, outlining the incident in the Dáil.
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The drones were not a threat to Mr Zelenskiy’s aircraft, he said.
“That needs to be clear because it had safely landed quite some time prior to the incident. Nor were they a threat to his departure.”
“An operational response was put in place that was appropriate to the circumstances by the commander of the naval vessel at the time and, subsequently, by the police and military authorities working in close co-operation.”
An Garda Síochána liaised with its Ukrainian partners and a Garda special detective unit investigation is under way into the incident “with input from the Defence Forces”, he said.
Mr Martin said it was a “very concerning incident” like similar events in other EU states.
“The circumstances are suggestive of this being part of an ongoing Russian-inspired hybrid campaign against European Union and Ukrainian interests,” he said.
The Taoiseach told Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh “no member state yet, bar France in the past 48 hours or so, has attempted to disabled drones or bring them down”.
She had asked why the Irish Naval Service did not have drone disabling equipment to deal with the five unidentified drones.
Mr Martin said that was a matter “we have to leave to the operational people in charge”.
“We cannot dictate that sort of a response here,” he said.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín asked who launched the drones, why they were not dealt with, where they came from and retreated to and “how come none of that information is known at this stage”.
He said there had been statements saying it was likely they came from Russia, “but what evidence is there of this”.
Fine Gael TD Edward Timmins earlier pointed to the increase in Russian shadow-fleet activity in Irish-controlled waters last week with three ships in the area.
Mr Martin said that, from the onset of the invasion of Ukraine, there has been “an exponential growth of cyberattacks”, “clear evidence of hybrid warfare” and a violation of airspace in a number of EU member states, including Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and France.
Fianna Fáil deputy Ryan O’Meara asked about the State’s capacity to “patrol our own skies and protect our own airspace” when Ireland took up presidency of the EU in July next year.
This was “a mammoth task” and a “huge operation”, the Taoiseach said. The Garda has established a dedicated EU presidency co-ordination office, led by the Deputy Commissioner of policing operations.
“In the modern security arena, you have to co-ordinate, co-operate and share intelligence with other agencies”, but “there are limits to what can be put into the public domain”, Mr Martin said.
There would be “a lot of planning for VIP protection, venue security, transport management, cyber resilience and public order contingencies”.
Mr Martin said gardaí were “substantively enhancing” their anti-drone capabilities and had “significant capabilities” on land.
He said it was the same for the Naval Service, and “the military has the capabilities generally throughout all three strands, air, sea and land”.
