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Crew of the LÉ Eithne, which EchoLive.ie reported earlier today, have been tasked to deliver personal protective equipment to HSE locations across Cork city.

The Naval Service vessel is docked in Cork city since March 20, awaiting a tasking from the HSE as part of the Covid-19 operation.

Since Tuesday, the vessel’s crew has been delivering PPE and alcohol-based handrub to numerous locations.

A spokesman for the Defence Forces said the locations change every day.

He also said it is unlikely that the LÉ Eithne will be used as a test centre in the immediate future. 

The LÉ Samuel Beckett (Afloat adds recently taken over by LÉ Niamh) in Dublin and LÉ William Butler Yeats in Galway are already being used as test centres. (Albeit Afloat adds using field tents set up on quaysides)  

Two weeks ago, the Defence Forces notified the Navy to place vessels in Cork, Dublin, and Galway for a possible tasking by the HSE.

For more on the story click here. 

Afloat previously stated incorrectly that LÉ Eithne is been used as a test centre. 

This afternoon Afloat confirmed with the Naval Service which said that LÉ Eithne remains alongside Cork City as part of the Defence Force’s efforts to generate more capacity to help the HSE to fight Covid-19. To date the vessel has not received any tasking relating to a testing centre. 

Published in News Update

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago