How do drugs get into Ireland?

Medical professionals have warned that drug use has surged in recent years, with a 1,831% increase in the number of cocaine linked deaths since the turn of the millenium. 

A former Assistant Garda Commissioner for Dublin has said open drug dealing is now common in the capital as there are now “more drugs available in Ireland probably than ever before”. 

So, how are all these drugs getting into Ireland? 

On The Hard Shoulder, Crime World podcast host Nicola Tallant said drugs come into the country in “all sorts of ways”, but mostly through planes and boats. 

“We’re seeing an awful lot of drop offs off the coast from boats,” she explained. 

“You can see that some of this cocaine is actually floating into the shores; there have been barrels of it up in Donegal in the last year. 

“Elsewhere, the ‘mother ships’ as they call them are coming over; you saw the MV Matthew which was stopped off the coast of Cork as it tried to make a runner out of Irish seas. 

“While our navy were following them in pursuit, along with Gardaí, the Ranger Wing were actually dropped onto the boat. 

“There was some video footage of that released, which was very dramatic altogether - there was a huge amount of cocaine, €160 million, aboard that.” 

Bulk carrier MV Matthew. Picture by: David Creedon / Alamy Stock Photo.

Ms Tallant continued that because Ireland has such a large coastline and a relatively low population, there are “huge opportunities” for criminals to land drugs without detection.  

“3,000 or more miles of coastline with lots of old smuggling coast, lots of inlets, lots of opportunities for people to go unseen, really with rib boats, pleasure boats or whatever,” she said. 

“That’s the attraction and when you’re in Ireland, you’re practically in Europe. 

“They then will just bring it onwards out through our ports or up through the North and over to Scotland, down through England. 

“Spain as well, there’s an awful lot of that activity going on.” 

Cocaine worth €7.2 million seized by Revenue as Rosslare Europort. Picture by: Revenue.ie.

Ms Tallant added that while there is a “pretty healthy appetite” for drugs in Ireland, much of the contraband is then smuggled onto Britain and continental Europe. 

“They can certainly leave quite a bit of it behind before they move it on to the UK market or elsewhere,” she said. 

“They’re ingenious really, the drug dealers, the kind of ways they bring cocaine in. 

“Some of the mother ships, like the MV Matthew, the captain and the crew, certainly, quite a few of them know what’s onboard. 

“In other cases, you’ll have other crew members overseeing secretive stashes of cocaine which are coming in through the ports with legitimate goods.” 

In July, eight men were jailed for a combined total of 129 years for their role in attempting to smuggle drugs into Ireland on board the MV Matthew.

Main image: The MV Matthew. Picture by: Óglaigh na hÉireann