The Irish Naval Service patrol ship the LÉ Samuel Beckett will be open for public tours when it is docked in Galway this weekend.
Naval Service personnel from the ship’s crew will be taking members of the public on guided tours from 0:00-12:00 & 14:00-17:00 this Sunday, August 25.
The LÉ Samuel Beckett is one of four new patrol vessels build for the Irish Naval Service in the past five years.
The Samuel Beckett the first to roll off the line in 2014, followed by the LÉ James Joyce in 2015, and the LÉ William Butler Yeats in 2016 and LÉ George Bernard Shaw last year.
The modernised, Roisín Class ships are often called the playwright sisters because of their names.
Ships in the Irish navy carry out patrols of Irish waters to combat illegal fishing and smuggling, as well as taking part in humanitarian missions to rescue migrants at sea in the Mediterranean.
Yesterday the Samuel Beckett detained a Portuguese ship fishing in Irish waters illegally off the south coast.
@naval_service ship LÉ SAMUEL BECKETT (P61) has detained a Portuguese registered fishing vessel approx 200 nautical miles South of Fastnet Rock, on alleged breach of fishing regulations. #Security #defence #mission #SEA #maritime @DF_COS
Full note: https://t.co/JA8O2Sidxf pic.twitter.com/b8hLJhNh39— Óglaigh na hÉireann (@defenceforces) August 22, 2019
The Irish Naval service is currently in a recruitment drive to combat low staffing levels that currently stand at just under 1,100 people.
The Defences Forces as a whole have seen a crisis in recruitment and retention lately as pay levels have become insufficient for members to live on.
Full details of the careers available the requirements can be found at military.ie/careers/naval-service.
