Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 February 2023
73. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will provide the details of the protections on coastlines to prevent entry of illegal migrants and the importation of drugs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5027/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Naval Service, as the State's principal sea-going agency, is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. While the main day to day tasking of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the State's obligations as a member of the European Union, it also carries out a number of other non-fishery related tasks such as search and rescue, diving operations, drugs interdiction as well as many more.
Overall responsibility for the prevention of drug trafficking rests primarily with the Customs Service of the Revenue Commissioners, while responsibility for the prevention of crime rests primarily with An Garda Síochána. The White Paper on Defence (2015) reaffirms the role carried out by the Defence Forces in support of this important work with the Air Corps and the Naval Service providing support to these agencies as the need arises and within their available capabilities.
This ongoing work, which is intelligence led, has been extremely successful in recent years, leading to a number of successful interdictions. For operational and security reasons, it is not appropriate for me to provide further details of this work.
