Met Eireann has said a new buoy network to be set up off the coast will collect weather and oceanographic information for transmission by satellite to Dublin, but will have no defence implications.
The first buoy in the series of five is due to be launched in Galway on Friday, and has been sourced from the British Meteorological Office at a cost of £1. The commercial cost of the buoy is in the region of £80,000 and the network is backed by Met Eireann, the Marine Institute and the UK Met Office.
It is to be placed in position at 53 degrees north and 11 degrees west, west of the Aran Islands, the following week.
The Galway buoy will not initially be able to record marine data, however, but will be recording wind speed and direction, air pressure, the temperature of the air and sea and humidity. The buoy and another new one to be placed in the Irish sea in February will be upgraded in about two years time in order to also collect Marine data of interest such as salinity of the water, currents, temperature and nutrient content.
At that time three additional buoys will be placed in Irish coastal waters east of Dublin, north of Belmullet, Co Mayo, south-west of Rosslare, Co Wexford and south of Valentia, Co Kerry.
The network will complement a similar system set up in the UK and taken together they will provide comprehensive information on weather and marine conditions in these islands. The buoys are designed to report via satellite on the hour every hour.
An awareness campaign will be targeted at seafarers to give the six-metre high by three-metre wide buoy a 500-metre berth.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Ms Evelyn Murphy, Head of the Marine Unit of Met Eireann, said the system was designed to provide a weather station similar to that available at Malin Head or Mizen Head, but located at sea. She said the marine industry could look forward to improved forecasting. Asked if there was a defence aspect to the system, Ms Murphy said she was not aware of any.
A long running campaign against plans to locate a 720-foot radio navigation mast at Loop Head, Co Clare were opposed partly because people feared the mast had defence implications.
Planning permission for the mast was granted by An Bord Pleanala on November 4th, 1994, but construction was delayed by a number of legal challenges and the permission expired last November.