This conference paper discusses the implications of the Irish Naval Service’s maritime security operations in the Mediterranean Sea on the retention crisis.
The Naval Service was never deployed overseas before joining the Italian Navy and Coast Guard in the bilateral Operation Pontus in 2015, aimed at saving the lives of migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean route. In July 2017, the Irish Naval Service was again deployed in the same geographical area as part of the EU’s CSDP mission, Operation NAVFOR Med Sophia, to disrupt the illegal human smuggling business.
A mixed methodology was employed by involving both qualitative sources and quantitative data, including parliamentary papers, institutional documents, data on defence expenditure and military personnel, and eight elite interviews.
This paper aims to answer the following research question: “To what extent did the Irish Naval Service’s maritime security operations in the Mediterranean Sea contribute to improving or worsening the retention crisis between 2015 and 2023?”
This paper hypothesises that the unprecedented publicity of Operations Pontus and Sophia would have improved military retention with more volunteers ready to contribute to the country’s seagoing agency. In reverse, this analysis finds evidence that the number of military personnel decreased after Ireland’s Naval Service no longer contributed to Operation Sophia, primarily because of the financial constraints on the salaries and seagoing allowances approved after the 2008 financial crisis.
Future studies should look at the implication of the 2023 participation in Operation Irini on the ongoing retention crisis of the Naval Service.
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