by Kieran Griffith
1/500 LÉ Dagda MRV (Arii)
The Arii 1/500 Sunflower is a reasonable 38 cm long kit of a Japanese inter-island overnight car ferry, in service since 1971 with a speed of 22 knots and weighing 13,000 tons. Vehicle ramps, reminiscent of Ro-Ro transports, on either side forward of the bridge, and right aft, one piece hull, with nice finely detailed archwork aft, but spoiled by very heavy paint guide moldings for the rising sun
The Irish Navy has plans for purchasing a MRV (Multi Role Vessel). Total budget for the Navy MRV is in the region of €90 million ($130m USD) that will go on a vessel that will be able to do offshore patrol and also take part in UN peace support including transporting APCs, and on humanitarian missions. However, the Irish Army appears to want a ship with much more vehicle space, and not necessarily a warship design. The Irish government is interested in acquiring a commercially designed affordable vessel with enough vehicle space to move the army’s equipment with one ship and not need to hitch rides to UN missions for their armored vehicles, but without landing craft. While the Sunflower design may be too large for the naval requirements of being a patrol ship, the plan for the Sunflower could be used as a basis for the blueprint of an Army Transport/Service/Assault Ship, carrying to five Agusta Westland AW139 helicopters and having far greater range then the Sunflower ferry. Currently the army is setting the requirements it wishes for a sealift vessel. Buying anything less than what the army wants is in my opinion, a waste of funds.
Dagda is the Irish-Celtic god of the earth and treaties, and ruler over life and death. He is a master of magic, a fearsome warrior and a skilled artisan. Dagda is a son of the goddess Danu, and father of Bodb Dearg, Cermait, Midir, Aine and Brigit (good names for the five helicopters), The Morrigan is his wife with whom he mates on New Years Day. The Dagda is portrayed as possessing both super- human strength and logistics. His attributes are a cauldron with an inexhaustible supply of food, a magical harp with which he summons the seasons, and an enormous club, with one end of which he could kill nine men, but with the other restores them to life.
