Submarine 'gamechanger for discovery' along Irish coasts

Ireland's first commercial submarine has begun work after six months of sea trials off the south coast.

The two-seater submersible, which is battery powered, was built in the Netherlands and cost more than €1m.

Atlantis Explorer 1 has been undergoing intensive testing since April in the waters around Cléire, off Baltimore in west Cork.

The two-and-a-half tonne submarine can dive to a depth of 100 metres and can stay submerged for up to eight hours at a time.

Its twin electric motors are powered by two 130-volt batteries, and allow it to operate independently of its mother ship. Its acrylic dome offers almost unimpeded views of the seascape around it.

It is equipped with a lighting system to illuminate the sea bed, and a 4K camera system to record it.

The submarine is owned by John Kearney, who is originally from Baltimore and is now based on the nearby island of Cléire, 15km off Baltimore.

Mr Kearney has been a diver for 37 years, having trained with the Irish Naval Service. He has been involved in commercial diving and marine tourism, as well as in some of the most complex search and recovery operations around Ireland's coast.

His company, Muirí Carraige Aonair Teo (MCAT), acquired the submarine which was built by Dutch company U-Boat Worx and certified by Oslo-based DNV.

Similar submarines are already in use as sightseeing vessels for tourists in locations such as Antarctica, the Caribbean and Saudi Arabia.

For Mr Kearney, after spending half a lifetime under water as a diver, the submarine offers a new experience.

"I think it's incredible, the opportunity that we can stay down here for hours on end, and do what we are limited to do when we are diving," he said.

"Instead of us going down for 15 minutes and then coming back up, with the likes of this submarine I can spend eight hours down there. I can bring my flask and my sandwiches with me and I can listen to some nice Lyric FM music in the background, while I am doing the survey work that we could only do for 15 minutes at a time before [when diving].

"There is endless potential for what this submarine can do.

"It's a gamechanger for discovery around the Irish coast and the underwater world that we have on our doorstep."

Mr Kearney insists the submarine can do the work of dozens of divers more efficiently and more safely, and the cost is therefore a fraction of what a diving team might cost.

Atlantis Explorer has already completed more than 100 dives off the south coast, and will be used for scientific and environmental research, as well as for surveying shipwrecks and for search and recovery operations.