diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4c87a0b27ca06acb2f100f95ba2393b08b8c6a69..49b984d7ee3c0cd5828f399db384de7eb30c60ba 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -76,7 +76,6 @@ option(OGS_BUILD_UTILS "Should the utilities programms be built?" ON)
 
 # ---- CMake includes ----
 include(GitSetup)
-include(SubmoduleSetup)
 include(Versions)
 include(PythonSetup)
 include(ProcessesSetup)
diff --git a/scripts/cmake/SubmoduleSetup.cmake b/scripts/cmake/SubmoduleSetup.cmake
deleted file mode 100644
index 4ca5a5eb1e1a3597f2f7ba6f0712e1fdaee03f64..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/scripts/cmake/SubmoduleSetup.cmake
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-if(NOT IS_GIT_REPO)
-    return()
-endif()
-
-# This file initializes the required submodules
-
-execute_process(
-    COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} submodule status
-    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
-    OUTPUT_VARIABLE SUBMODULES_STATE
-)
-string(REPLACE "\n" ";" SUBMODULES_LIST ${SUBMODULES_STATE})
-
-foreach(SUBMODULE_STATE ${SUBMODULES_LIST})
-
-    string(REGEX MATCH "ThirdParty/[/A-Za-z0-9_-]*" SUBMODULE ${SUBMODULE_STATE})
-    if(NOT ${SUBMODULE} IN_LIST REQUIRED_SUBMODULES)
-        continue()
-    endif()
-
-    string(REGEX MATCH "^\\-" UNINITIALIZED ${SUBMODULE_STATE})
-    string(REGEX MATCH "^\\+" MISMATCH ${SUBMODULE_STATE})
-
-    if(IS_CI)
-        # Always set submodule to the given state
-        execute_process(
-            COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} submodule update --init --force
-                --recursive ${DEPTH} ${SUBMODULE}
-            WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
-            RESULT_VARIABLE RESULT
-        )
-    else()
-        set(RESULT "")
-        if(UNINITIALIZED)
-            message(STATUS "Initializing submodule ${SUBMODULE}")
-            execute_process(
-                COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} submodule update --init
-                    --recursive ${DEPTH} ${SUBMODULE}
-                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
-                RESULT_VARIABLE RESULT
-            )
-
-        elseif(MISMATCH)
-            message(STATUS "Updating submodule ${SUBMODULE}")
-            execute_process(
-                COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} submodule update
-                    --recursive ${SUBMODULE}
-                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
-                RESULT_VARIABLE RESULT
-            )
-        endif()
-    endif()
-
-    if((NOT ${RESULT} STREQUAL "") AND (NOT ${RESULT} STREQUAL "0"))
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "Error in submodule setup; return value: ${RESULT}")
-    endif()
-endforeach()