Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has sided with navy claims that staffing is to blame for the docking of two vessels amid a row over why boats have been taken out of service.
Mr Varadkar was asked to clarify confusion after concerns his junior defence minister Paul Kehoe had contradicted and undermined a naval commander.
Mr Kehoe claims the two vessels are docked for maintenance reasons. But Cmdr Mick Malone said over the weekend two vessels were taken out of service because of inadequate staffing levels.
Asked by the Irish Examiner about the matter, Mr Varadkar - who is the senior defence minister at Cabinet - said he had been briefed on the docking of the navy ships only this morning.
“As you know, the navy has been short-staffed for quite some time. It is a feature across the economy at the moment.
As we approach full employment, lots of people are finding it hard to get staff. And the navy is one of the those areas.
"So rather than spreading the crews over seven ships, they are now going to fully staff and fully equip five and the other two will go into maintenance in the meantime.
“I think the flag officer described as cutting the cloth to fit the measure and that is what is going to be done.
“So the crews that were spread across seven ships will now be on five and the other two will go into maintenance."
Asked to further clarify whether his junior defence minister Paul Kehoe was then "inaccurate" in his description over the docked ships, Mr Varadkar responded: “I don't think so. I think they are both true.
“I'll have to check exactly what different people said. But what I said to you earlier is my understanding of what's happened.”
