In a last-ditch effort a campaign is underway to see the Naval Service flagship converted into a maritime museum, rather than sold for scrap.

Cork County Council is writing to the Minister for Defence and the secretary-general of the Department of Defence asking that LÉ Eithne be retained in Cork Harbour as a monument, rather than scrapped or sold.

Some of the main reasons for the request lie with LÉ Eithne’s significant history and association with the region. It was the last Naval Service ship built in Ireland, by the Verlome Cork Dockyard (V.C.D.) in Cobh in 1984, and the first to cross the Atlantic and visit South America.

The flagship and two ageing coastal patrol vessels, ‘Peacocks’ LÉ Orla and LÉ Ciara, are due to be decommissioned this year and rumours have circulated that all three will be sold for scrap metal value, rather than auctioned off.

The reasoning behind that theory is it might avoid further diplomatic embarrassment. The last to be auctioned ended up in the hands of a Libyan warlord, although through no fault of the Irish authorities.

A previous one was given free to Malta. However, it didn’t go down well there as former senior naval commanders on the Mediterranean Island described it as junk.

More from the Irish Examiner on this development to save the unique final Irish built ship whose adopted homeport is Dun Laoghaire Harbour.