Four of the Naval Service's eight vessels have been tied up because of the discovery of asbestos, the Dail was told. The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, said the issue was being treated extremely seriously and everything would be done to return the ships to service as soon as possible.

It was estimated to take "no more than two or three days to remove the asbestos", he said.

The problem came to light following a survey of older vessels after an officer attended a seminar organised by the Health and Safety Authority, the Minister added.

He was responding to Fine Gael's Defence spokeswoman, Ms Frances Fitzgerald, and Mr Jack Wall (Lab, Kildare South) who raised the issue on the adjournment of the Dail. Mr Smith said that while there was an "unavoidable curtailment" of fishery protection duties because of the asbestos problem, three of the four ships in port were brought in to undergo periods of self-maintenance which arose normally in the course of service. "The effect of the asbestos problem on the availability of these ships for patrol to date is minimal," he said.

The LE Deirdre was the first ship to be surveyed and the results in November showed that white asbestos, or chrysotile, was detected in very small quantities in isolated machinery spaces, such as engine exhausts and heating pipes.

Mr Smith said he wanted to emphasise that no asbestos was found in the accommodation areas. Surveys on the LE Eimear, LE Aoife and LE Aisling showed similar results. Emergency tendering procedures were put in place for contractors to deal with the asbestos, and the Minister expected contracts to be awarded shortly.