Ireland has expanded its navy’s powers to board and inspect suspicious vessels as concerns grow over the security of undersea cables linking North America and Europe, according to reporting by Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic.

About 75 per cent of transatlantic subsea cables pass through or near Irish waters, according to the Irish government. The networks carry communications and financial transactions, giving Ireland a strategic role in the digital economy alongside its concentration of technology companies and data centres.

Increased Russian vessel activity near undersea infrastructure has heightened concerns about possible interference. Ireland also faces limits on its ability to monitor its waters: it has the European Union’s lowest defence spending as a share of gross domestic product, and its navy has no submarines, Al Jazeera reported.

In November 2024, the Irish Navy escorted the Russian vessel Yantar out of Ireland’s exclusive economic zone after it was monitored near undersea infrastructure in the Irish Sea. Officially an oceanographic research vessel, Yantar is described by Britain’s Ministry of Defence as a spy ship.

British authorities subsequently accused the vessel of loitering over critical infrastructure in UK waters and, in late 2025, directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots monitoring it in the North Sea.

Irish Defence Minister Helen McEntee said in March that responding to emerging maritime threats, particularly vessels linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, was a priority. The term refers to ageing, often uninsured tankers used to transport Russian oil and circumvent Western sanctions. Moscow disputes the label as a political fabrication.

The vessels have prompted concerns about both accidental damage and deliberate interference with cables.

Senator Tom Clonan, a supporter of Ireland’s military neutrality, told Al Jazeera that neutrality should not prevent stronger defence capabilities. He argued that decades of reduced attention to security had left the country vulnerable across maritime, air, ground and cyber domains.

Former Irish ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall said international cooperation would be necessary to protect the cables, while cautioning that no country could guarantee their safety.

“They’re the bloodstream of our economy,” Mulhall told Al Jazeera. “And if that bloodstream is interfered with, the economy will have serious trouble.”

Sources