LÉ Róisín P51

L.É. RÓISÍN (the first of the Róisín class of vessel) was built in Appledore Shipyards in the UK for the Naval Service. Naval Service engineers stood by her construction at all stages. She was built to a design that optimises her patrol performance in Irish waters (which are the roughest in the world), all year round. For that reason a greater length overall (78.8m) was chosen, giving her a long sleek appearance and allowing the opportunity to improve the conditions onboard for her crew. Onboard facilities include more private accommodation, a gymnasium and changing /storage areas for boarding teams.

Ship's Name

Róisín or Róisín Dúbh, though now usually portrayed as an allegory for Ireland, was probably one of the daughters of Red Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone in the late 16th Century. Like many young noble women of the time, she was married several times while quite young. One marriage was probably to Hugh O’Donnel, Earl of Tyconnell and another to O’Cahain of Innishowen. Such Dynastic marriages were not unusual and under Irish law, marriage was a purely secular matter and the church had no real involvement in it.

The poem Róisín Dúbh is one of those poems of which almost everyone has heard but very often few actually read. It is almost certainly a love poem to a real woman, not to an abstraction of idealised womanhood or an allegory of the country. Such poems were not unusual particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the language of ‘Róisín Dúbh’ is quite different. The other poems tend to express admiration for the beauty and courage of the lady being eulogised but they never express the sense of lust that comes across in the poem.