1. BZ to @RoyalMarines @RoyalNavy for assisting @HantsPolice & ensuring a peaceful outcome to a potentially dangerous incident in a busy international shipping lane. In military capabilities are regularly requested & provided to @merrionstreet

2. Are we as a country willing to ensure that these capabilities are adequately resourced, maintained and developed into the future. Events requiring such high end skill sets are often used once in a generation. How do you assess value for money in this instance?

3. After years of hard work by @pdforra & @RACO_DF special forces allowance was finally increased by an extra 50 euro a week last year but D PER didn’t think pay for army rangers should be backdated to when the pay increase was actually recommended by an independent adjudicator

4. An increase in the size of the Army Ranger Wing has been recommended for years and was included in the 2015 White Paper on Defence yet the unit has not increased in size and continues to lose members to better paid jobs in @gardainfo & @DubFireBrigade

5. @IrishAirCorps & @naval_service are the only state agencies capable of delivering these operators to vessels in our seas in all circumstances, night and day 24/7/365. Recent night flying exercises and training at sea with the Navy allow the maintenance & development of skills

6. The crisis in the @IrishAirCorps has stabilised,pilot numbers are adequate, training is excelling including night flying & ops at sea. Are we going to invest for the future? An MRV on the way for @Naval_service with a heli deck but no funds yet for dedicated maritime helis

7. Breaking news from @BBCWorld also states that a Naval vessel and Naval divers were deployed tonight incase the hijacked vessel was mined. 2 months out from Brexit and the crisis in our own @naval_service continues. Ships face challenges deploying and diver numbers are depleted