Name: I Joined the Irish Navy to Patrol Against Growing Russian Threats
Uploaded: 2026-09-15T14:24:00Z
Duration: 10 min 50 s
Description: Some 75 percent of transatlantic cables run through Irish waters, but the historically neutral country presents a possible weak link in the West's defenses. WSJ’s Sune Engel Rasmussen explains.

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Some 75 percent of transatlantic cables run through Irish waters, but the historically neutral country presents a possible weak link in the West's defenses. WSJ’s Sune Engel Rasmussen explains. Photo: Daniel Vergara

https://m.wsj.net/video/20260915/7f8ccf40-b101-4a52-b4a6-b653b0e9ebf7/4/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Some 75 percent of transatlantic cables run through Irish waters, but the historically neutral country presents a possible weak link in the West's defenses. WSJ’s Sune Engel Rasmussen explains.

I Joined the Irish Navy to Patrol Against Growing Russian Threats

I'm off the coast of Ireland on my way to meet the Irish Navy, which is patrolling these waters against foreign threats, including the Russian shadow fleet and other ships that might want to sabotage some of the vital civilian infrastructure located below the surface here.

Ireland is a small country with huge global importance. Major tech giants, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta, all have their European headquarters here, and around 75% of all transatlantic subsea cables pass through or near its waters. These types of cables are the backbone of global communication, carrying 98% of the world's international internet traffic.

Ready the moors.

Despite all this, Ireland has the lowest levels of defense spending in the European Union.

Suspected vessels of the shadow fleet are transiting through REU's edge every day that traffic has increased over the last 18 months.

Threats from drones, mines, and sabotage are growing. What lies beneath the sea is critical to European security above it. We need to defend it accordingly.

We are kind of the last frontier when it comes to North Atlantic side of things.

I joined the crew on the George Bernard Shaw. The ship's captain, Lieutenant Commander Maria O'Callaghan, has served in the Irish Navy for over 20 years. Explain to me what's the Navy doing out here.

We are currently on sailing order where we're patrolling the Irish Economic Exclusive Zone. Essentially with that, we are looking at what is in our waters, what's transiting through our waters, who, what, when, where by what means they're coming through. But our real, I suppose key reason we've been out here is to see what we don't know. Is there something else out here? Is there something that by having a ship or an asset out in the EEZ, can we detect things that are supposed in that unknown space, and then be able to provide that information to feed into a bigger picture?

Won't be a suspicious behavior from a ship.

I suppose as a mariner, we are aware of what is normal and what is not normal. We watch everything, but you are looking for what traffic isn't normal and is a vessel having an unusual track, in which case we'll go and close that vessel and potentially hail it.

Irish Navy patrol , sir, what is the purpose of your voyage?

When hailing, the Navy radios a vessel to find out more information about its owners, its root, and its purpose. If the details don't check out, they will escort it out of Irish waters.

So we may be tasked to escort vessels out of our waters, and again, it's about an awareness of who these vessels are and I suppose what threat do they pose to Ireland and our Economically Exclusive Zone. So it can be tasked to essentially shadow these vessels and remain a distance off them and escort them out of the EEZ.

How often does it happen?

More regularly than you think.

Earlier this year, the Irish government unveiled a new maritime defense strategy designed to safeguard its seas. Wow. So this is the cables here?

Yes.

These purple lines.

Exactly. So these are the cables underneath. Where they are underneath, are they lying in the bed or are they actually getting submerged? This won't tell us that exactly.

Right.

But it will tell us the position of where the cable was laid.

So this is all open source information?

This is all open source information.

So the Russians will have this as well?

Absolutely.

Yeah. And so the Russians will know exactly where these cables are.

Yes.

Irish waters cover around 10 times its landmass, but its naval forces are small with only eight ships; four offshore patrol vessels for deep sea surveillance, two inshore patrol vessels to handle coastal security, and two additional large patrol vessels. Do you have enough resources, do you think? Does the Irish Navy have enough resources to secure this quite vital waterways around your country? You could probably do with more ships.

Like anyone, we could always say and there will always be a need to have more ships at the end of the day. The area that we operate requires that. But for now, for the job that I am specifically doing, that I am tasked with this ship, and that I have sufficient resources to do so.

Russia has been accused of cutting undersea cables in European waters. Now, Moscow denies these allegations, but Russian-linked ships have been seen loitering over data and energy cables in Irish waters. And hundreds of Russian-linked vessels belonging to what's known as the shadow fleet that transport Russian oil and contravention of Western sanctions are seen every year in Irish waters. With security experts saying that these maritime threats are growing, Ireland has committed to boosting its defense budget and its troops, but some critics say that these measures don't go far enough. Throughout Europe, countries have increased their military spending, but Ireland only spends about 0.2% of its GDP on defense. I asked Ireland's defense minister as she was hosting her EU counterparts. Can you understand if people think that Ireland is not doing enough and these increases are happening too slow?

Okay, what I can assure people is that our funding will continue to increase. We've increased our budget by 43% in the last four years alone. We're now having discussions as we speak on our upcoming budget, and what you can be assured of is that I will seek additional funding.

Even as the budgets have increased, so has the threat level. From January to September this year, 388 vessels suspected of belonging to Russia's shadow fleet transited through Irish waters, nearly three times as many as the same period last year. Do you feel confident that Ireland is doing enough to secure its maritime interest or the West's maritime interests?

So of course the member states are making different contributions to defense. It very much depends on whether they feel that the threat is real or not. I think we have seen all the news that the threat level has risen, so it also requires contributions from everybody so that we would be stronger together.

Do you think Ireland does enough?

Well, I haven't looked into the Ireland's budget.

0.2% of GDP.

Yes. Yeah, but.

Ireland has a longstanding policy of military neutrality dating back to the Second World War and is not a member of NATO. Previous government have used this to justify low defense spending, and many want to keep it that way.

And I don't believe Ireland as a neutral country should be getting involved in the military competition of imperial blocks as I would see them. I don't really think militarily Ireland is in any position to take on Russia and nor should it attempt to. It's just preposterous, to be honest with you, that Russia represents any serious military threat. When you consider, for example, that NATO combined are now spending more on weapons and hardware and militarism than Russia. If they can barely win a war against Ukraine, how on earth are they going to represent a serious threat to the rest of Europe?

Do you think in the future this neutral stance of Ireland's gonna come under pressure?

Oh, it's coming under pressure. They're trying to put doubts in the minds of the Irish people about neutrality. I think if anything, the appetite for that is declining among ordinary people.

But if the threat to these cables are Russian vessels or Russian linked vessels loitering around in Irish waters as part of the Russian shadow fleet, how do you confront those ships, if not by military means?

I think involving us in the NATO military alliance makes us more of a target for those things, but I would far rather see those cables protected by strengthening their armory around them rather than spending money on warships and missiles and things that are actually part of something else, which is a militarization project. So I think we can safeguard civilian infrastructure without going down the road of increased militarism.

Investment in military and investment in safety, security and defense doesn't mean aggression, it just means defense. And I think people are more willing to hear the word defend rather than fight. I think with how fast the global politics and dynamic, how fast that changes people are becoming more aware of what challenges are out there.

But it's more for just monitoring really.

A lot of this is information sharing and awareness. We need to be able to identify what's out there and be able to feed that back in so we can decide whether or not those risks will pose a direct risk to Ireland, or are they risks that Europe need to be aware of? We are a member of the European Union. We are a member of the European continent. We have, I suppose a responsibility.

As well as years of low funding, Ireland's defense forces have struggled to recruit troops. Its permanent military force counts only around 7,500 personnel, but things are slowly changing.

We really are seeing a massive increase in recruitment over the last, I suppose 18 months. What we have to remember is it takes time to train people. You cannot bicycle sets, you have to build up with experience and training and that does take time.

Whether or not you think Ireland should spend more on its military or whether or not you think Ireland is a weak link in the defense of Europe, one thing is clear, there is a disconnect between the way the threat from Russia is being perceived and presented in most Western capitals and then the resources available to Irish armed forces, including its Navy. The fear is, in most western capitals, that as Russia continues to test the resolve of the West, it will do so through the smuggling of oil, through espionage and through sabotage of civilian infrastructure, and that it has the opportunity to do all those things right here in the Irish Sea.