DEEP TROUBLE Fears of Russian attack on undersea internet cables..
THE Irish Government is seriously concerned Russia will attack the underwater internet cables connecting Europe with the US off the Irish coast.
The warning was issued last night by Fianna Fail MEP Billy Kelleher after the mysterious explosion on the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea last Tuesday which delivers Russian gas to Europe.
Three offshore lines of the pipeline suffered serious damage and senior EU officials blamed the Kremlin.
Mr Kelleher stated: “The
Russian navy was carrying out manoeuvres off
Ireland in January 2022. At the time many people said they were there mapping undersea communications between the EU and the USA.
“The attack on the gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea leads me to believe that
Russia would sabotage these cables.”
There are currently 16 cables running under the
Atlantic connecting the
USA with Ireland, the UK, and mainland Europe but specifically France, Germany and Holland.
Some of the cables come ashore off the west coast in the Mayo area and then go on to Dublin and Britain, while others divert to France about 150 miles off the Cork coastline.
The Irish Defence Forces hasn’t the military capability to protect the cables.
But both British, France and American naval forces have regularly been in the area all year trying to protect the undersea connections from possible Russia attacks.
The issue was raised earlier this year by Independent TD Cathal Berry who warned that Ireland was a sitting duck because of the cables coming ashore here and it would be the ultimate cyber attack, targeting hardware instead of software, and it would devastate the European economy and wider society.
He raised the alarm that the Irish Navy did not have the sonar equipment to detect submarines in our waters and to stop them interfering with the cables.
Dependent
He warned the Dail this week: “We were defenceless yesterday and we still are defenceless today.” A Government source admitted they are seriously worried but they are dependent on America and Britain to protect the internet connections.
Every major tech company also has their European headquarters in Dublin and they are all briefed and alert to the rogue Russian threat.
The source added: “The Russians had no problem blowing up their own pipeline in an attempt to bring economic hardship to Europe with a gas shortage this Winter and they wouldn’t think twice of bringing the internet to its knees.
“Putin is capable of anything at the moment.”