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THE REVENUE COMMISSIONERS seized and destroyed almost €90 million-worth of drugs in 2014.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan recently told the Dáil that Revenue destroyed €89,475,465-worth of illegal drugs last year, compared to €18,741,251 in 2013.
He was responding to a parliamentary question asked by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.
Here’s a breakdown of the amount of drugs captured and destroyed by Revenue in the last five years:
A spokesperson for Revenue told TheJournal.ie the large increase in drugs seized in 2014 is due to the seizure of over 1,000kg of cocaine on a yacht, the SV Makayabella, last September.
They said Revenue “continues to work at a national level with An Garda Síochána and the Naval Service and at international level with our law enforcement partners in the fight against illicit drugs”.
In 2014, Revenue made 6,158 drug seizures.
The spokespersonsaid said the organisation’s Customs Drugs Watch Programme success was “central to this success”.
The large cocaine seizure on the yacht came to light as a result of an investigation by Revenue into the arrival of a small leisure craft into a port in the south east in “unusual circumstances”.
The investigation unearthed links to an established drug trafficking gang and a sailing vessel suspected of involvement in drugs trafficking between the Caribbean and western Europe.
Here’s how events unfolded that day:
“Close co-operation and intelligence-sharing with partners in the UK and France and also with the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre-Narcotics (MAOC-N) in Lisbon identified the location of the sailing vessel some hundreds of miles south west of the Irish Coast.
A Joint Task Force (JTF), comprising members of the Revenue Customs Service, Naval Service and An Garda Síochána, then implemented a coordinated operation at sea, with air support from our French and UK partners.
“The operation was conducted using two naval vessels at night and in challenging conditions between 200 and 300 miles west south west of Mizen Head. The L.É. Niamh supported by L.É. Róisín identified the suspect vessel in a covert surveillance operation.
The decision was made by the JTF to deploy an armed Naval boarding party, which resulted in the successful detention by Revenue’s Customs Service of the yacht, suspected contraband and the crew of three. The yacht was taken to the naval base at Haulbowline where the crew was arrested by gardaí.
Arising out of the seizure, the owner of the leisure craft, which had arrived in the south east, was successfully prosecuted in the UK and sentenced to sixteen years in prison.
Earlier this month, Irish recreational drug users discussed their habits as part of the Global Drugs Survey. It found that cannabis is still the most-used drug here, but cocaine and MDMA use is also common.
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I unfortunately had to register the death of a family member recently. Got the paperwork from the hospital in January and wanted to get it sorted quickly but was told the next available appointment at the registry office was in March. Five days is great in theory but good luck getting that go happen in practice
@Laura Diver: I’m very sorry for your loss. I hope you won’t mind me asking a genuine question? Why did you have to do it in person? My mam passed away 18 months ago and we were allowed to email, was that just a covid thing I wonder? You’d think if it worked they would allow it to continue. My dad passed away more than 10 years ago and I can’t remember how we registered his, though I know we waited 6 months for his death certificate as it was a sudden death requiring post mortem. Again my condolences
Beggars belief. Currently getting through probate is a nightmare (minimum 16 weeks), even with a will made. Can’t believe the system is efficient enough to get through this in a month.
OK so I don’t give a damn about the flipping records and what statistics they want to record (unless my loved one did die from plague or the likes). Hounding the grieving like that is disgraceful.
@Helen Downey: absolutely agree
@Helen Downey: we were waiting 19 months to get rhe inquest for my brother.
@Helen Downey: some families might want it done as soon as possible for their own reasons, it’s not just about stats.
Three months may be longer than necessary in most instances, but the suggested timeline here is disgracefully short for a grieving family, 4-6 weeks would be far more reasonable and compassionate
@Jo H: Presumably dependants will need this proof to access pension and death grants and so on?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Yes, financial institutions etc. won’t do anything until they are provided a copy, but not everyone needs or is able to consider starting to organise that stuff within 10 days so that might not be a driving factor for many. I know people who have acted on it that day after a funeral, others who take longer. It’s a very personal thing. There should of course be a deadline, I just think the one being proposed is too tight.
The problem is that they need to fix the system behind the scenes first rather than reducing the time for families to register as the first port of call. What is the point of reducing that if it then becomes impossible to do? I mean really.
And as for triggering other services – that would be great but lets face it, departments in this country don’t talk to each other. Or else they get a bit too ahead of themselves – my dad’s pension from the Dept. of Education was stopped on his date of death based solely off his death notice in the paper. Which didn’t contain enough information to really identify him down to an individual. Absolute madness.
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