Minister Helen McEntee Floats Idea of Defence Forces Boarding Russian Oil Tankers as ‘Deterrent’ - 17/02/2026

Defence minister Helen McEntee has put forward a proposal for the Irish Defence Forces to board Russian oil tankers as a “deterrent”.The Meath-East Fine Gael TD said there is already a law in place that allows the Defence Forces to do this if there are “concerns” and her proposal specifically relates to Russian “shadow fleets”.The Minister said the details are set to be fine-tuned with engagement needed from other colleagues. She added that the proposal comes following discussions at the Munich Security Conference with countries such as Iceland and Canada.Minister McEntee joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.We also discussed the Irish holidaymakers heading to Cuba who have been told to contact their travel agents “immediately” after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) changed their travel advice for the country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.