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  • Originally posted by ibenji View Post
    To be fair, it was probably a better return for the taxpayer when you consider that the last ship was effectively given to Malta and maintained until they decided to take her. We also put their crew up for a few weeks as well and probably threw in a couple of fuel refills while the learned to operate the ship in Cork harbour
    Depends on your definition of 'return' IMO. I'd rather have my tax€ spent on providing a friendly nation with the means to secure themselves and save lives than getting a few 100k back.

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    • Originally posted by Graylion View Post
      Depends on your definition of 'return' IMO. I'd rather have my tax€ spent on providing a friendly nation with the means to secure themselves and save lives than getting a few 100k back.


      The AFM in return has provided logistical support to OP PONTUS, so a good deal all round in that respects.

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      • Originally posted by A/TEL View Post
        The AFM in return has provided logistical support to OP PONTUS, so a good deal all round in that respects.
        Particularly when you consider they were part funded by the ECC in the first place. Of all the disposals I think Malta getting one was the best disposal.

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        • This is the auctioneers side of the story;

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          • It's 36 years old; it is what it is, a pensioned off warship. If a Govt did take it on, it would have to consider the state of the machinery and it's suitabilty for tough seas like the Atlantic and the need to refit it's armament, comms, sensor fit and so on. this isn't like the dauphins or SF260s, which were sold for a song.

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            • More from the auctioneer;



              HOME»BREAKING NEWS»IRELAND
              Latest: Auctioneer who oversaw sale of LÉ Aisling claims Department of Defence told him to 'let it go'

              2



              Tuesday, May 16, 2017 - 12:26 pm
              Update 5.30pm: The auctioneer who oversaw the sale of the LÉ Aisling seven weeks ago has claimed he was instructed by the Department of Defence to take the deal.

              Dominic Daly spoke to The Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM this morning, and said that there are added costs to naval vessels after they are bought.

              It comes after it was confirmed this evening that the State had to keep a skeleton crew assigned to the vessel even after it was decommissioned last year.
              That cost the state €370,000 in wages, and another €10,000 in tuggage fees.

              The boat was sold in March, but its new Dutch owners have already put it back on the market at six times the price.

              Mr Daly said: "The underlying reason why naval vessels don't attract money is that a naval vessel is not certified, it doesn't have papers.

              "So the new owner, once he buys her, has to establish a port of registry and also to get classification. And that can be quite expensive."

              He said that the man in Holland who bought the LÉ Aisling has at least €300,000 in costs to pay for, which accounts for his €685,000 price tag.

              Mr Daly said: "He has to get registration... he will have to dry-dock it, get safety certificates, all sorts of certification and that doesn't come cheaply."

              Mr Daly revealed that a lot of people turned up for the auction, but most of them didn't bid because of the expensive paperwork attached to the vessel.

              He said: "They would have an understanding of what it would cost them. The vessel was perfectly good, but she had to be towed to Holland, because of the regulations, which doesn't make a lot of sense."

              Neil Prendeville asked Mr Daly if it would have been a good idea to have put a reserve price on the LÉ Aisling, so that if the bids didn't reach that reserve price, the Department of Defence could have held onto the vessel.



              Mr Daly said that was a matter for the department.

              He said: "That wasn't in my realm at all. I conducted the auction, I then took an intermission and I spoke to department officials and they told me to let it go."

              Earlier: The Deputy Mayor of Galway has hit out at the handling of the sale of the LÉ Aisling saying "we sold a ship for the price of a car".

              Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Fine Gael's Pearse Flannery said when it was being decommissioned as a naval vessel, he requested that the LÉ Aisling be gifted to the people of Galway as a floating museum.

              He said the ship was twinned with the city of Galway and was berthed and docked in the city frequently.

              He said they had numerous communications with the Department of Defence and they asked for a costed business plan, but Mr Flannery said the time-frame given to submit the plan was not sufficient and it became "an insurmountable task in that time-frame".

              He said they had until the first week in September last year to submit the plan, otherwise it would not be considered by the Department of Defence.
              Last edited by danno; 16 May 2017, 23:15.

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              • Earlier: The Deputy Mayor of Galway has hit out at the handling of the sale of the LÉ Aisling saying "we sold a ship for the price of a car".

                Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Fine Gael's Pearse Flannery said when it was being decommissioned as a naval vessel, he requested that the LÉ Aisling be gifted to the people of Galway as a floating museum.

                He said the ship was twinned with the city of Galway and was berthed and docked in the city frequently.

                He said they had numerous communications with the Department of Defence and they asked for a costed business plan, but Mr Flannery said the time-frame given to submit the plan was not sufficient and it became "an insurmountable task in that time-frame".

                He said they had until the first week in September last year to submit the plan, otherwise it would not be considered by the Department of Defence.
                Suffice to say both the TD and the mayor are fcuking idiots who know nothing about Naval Vessels and even less about museums.

                Any monies netted are in fact a profit as everything up to the point of sale was service , a 37 year old ship run to to the last and then maintained prior to disposal will have very little return and has paid for itself 10 times over....

                I believe they did well to sell it at all, personally I wouldn't take a present of it knowing what it takes to even keep one running at minimal systems along side. Money Pit!!!
                Covid 19 is not over ....it's still very real..Hand Hygiene, Social Distancing and Masks.. keep safe

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                • It is said that, as with having a share in a racehorse or a holiday flat on the Iberian peninsula, that the best two days you have with a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. The DoD are certainly getting lots of big days on this one.

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                  • You can be sure that if it was "gifted" to Galway there would have been a begging letter to the Government to bail them out PDQ. While we may not like the price they got for it, it was the highest bid on offer. What's the betting it will end up like the Deirdre being scrapped.

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                    • I disagree slightly. Scrapping was the only option for Deirdre, long after her sale. Her initial owner had great plans to convert her into a superyacht, a task not unusual for the type of ship. (Cousteau had a converted minesweeper for his adventures).
                      The Problem started when the new owner died in a helicopter crash mid conversion. Like all multi-millionaires, it takes time to spit up the assets, and meantime the former deirdre lay open to the elements, half converted.
                      Anyone who has oiled a steel hinge on the garden shed knows what damp winters can do to bare metal, and this semi-converted ship saw too many, as it rusted away in the corner of a shipyard, all work stopped.
                      Eventually someone bought the project with a view to completing it. Unfortunately the surveyer took a look at this hull open to the elements, and decided the cutting torch was the best place for her.
                      A victim of unfortunate circumstances.
                      Remember also that Deirdre did not have as strong a hull as Emer, Aoife or Aisling, with a different internal watertight bulkhead layout.

                      But I agree completely on the museum comment. The loudest critics of the sale usually know nothing about maintaining an ageing steel hull or operating a museum to a profit. Doing one is difficult. Doing both at the same time is almost impossible.
                      HMS belfast, for example is part of the Greater IWM system, and much of the funds to maintain her are paid from ticket entry to other IWM venues(In addition to still being property of the RN). Ireland does not have this museum network.
                      For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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                      • I had understood the Belfast is owned by a trust but still has the privileges of RN units.

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                        • Originally posted by danno View Post
                          I had understood the Belfast is owned by a trust but still has the privileges of RN units.
                          What do you mean?
                          Having been on both Belfast and Intrepid in New York, the idea that one of the P20's could be made into a viable museum ship without costs to the taxpayer (and ultimately being scrapped I would think) is a joke imo.

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                          • Still is "HMS" and hoists the ensign.

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                            • There seems to be a market for old patrol units;

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                              • If any NS vessel can be saved/preserved it should be Eithne, but realistically how many people are going to want to pay to see her? If there was space in Haulbowline to develop a Naval museum she would be an ideal centrepiece, but it's not a realistic proposition sadly.

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