Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 2 Jul 1996

Vol. 467 No. 7

Written Answers. - Castletownbere (Cork) Customs Service.

Joe Walsh

Question:

57 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Finance the number employed full-time by the Customs Service at Castletownbere Port, County Cork; if his attention was drawn to a major drugs shipment through the port in 1995; and the extra resources, if any, he has provided in this regard since that occurrence. [14276/96]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

I have no comment to make on the Deputy's reference to a drugs shipment through Castletownbere beyond what I have already said in the House at Question Time on 12 March 1996. As the House has been informed on a number of occasions previously, the Revenue Commissioners concluded that, in the new situation brought about by the introduction of the Single Market on 1 January 1993, the most effective means of providing a Customs service in the Bantry Bay/Beara Peninsula area was to have staff centralised in and operating from Bantry and deployed on a flexible basis to various locations, including Castletownbere, to meet the needs of the work. In recognition of the large concentration of fishing vessels at the port at certain times of the year, however, the full time assignment of an officer of Customs and Excise is authorised during the peak period and, in fact, an officer was in full-time attendance there for over three months this year. As to the off-peak season, a Customs service is, as indicated, provided by means of the deployment of staff from Bantry on a flexible basis.

The Revenue Commissioners are fully alert to the dangers of drug smuggling along the coastline, including smuggling through ports in the south-west of the county. Experience has shown that intelligence gathering and surveillance, rather than a static presence, are the best means of combating drug smuggling. The Commissioners have made a substantial commitment in terms of staff and other resources to the Customs National Drug Team (CNDT). Sixteen members of the CNDT are based in Cork to staff operational, intelligence, maritime and sniffer-dog units. Intelligence units, each comprising two full-time members of the CNDT, are also based in Bantry and Tralee and are supervised by two higher executive officers, who become involved in drugs-related work as necessary. All units are mobile and employ the most modern means of communication and have access to aerial and sea surveillance. Specialist CNDT Officers in the Cork and Kerry region can call on assistance, where the need arises, of other Customs and Excise staff.

The Customs service has also enlisted the assistance of the business community engaged in the import/export trade in fighting drug smuggling through the memorandum of understanding programme as well as the general public through the drug watch programme, which encourages coastal communities and maritime personnel to report unusual occurrences in their areas to Customs by freefone or freepost.

In the circumstances, I am satisfied that the present measures taken by Customs, in co-operation with the other enforcement agencies concerned, provide adequate protection against the illegal importation of drugs along the south-west coast. The deployment of resources is, of course, kept under review.