Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

The country is overcome with drugs at the moment and all communities, be they urban or rural, are affected in some way by drugs. In view of the fact that most of these drugs are coming in by sea, surely the Minister would agree that cutting back the number of naval patrol days was a retrograde step. The savings that will be made by cutting back by 200 days will be lost when we examine the health implications, the money spent on prison places and the cost of crime that often leads to drug-related murders. If we consider all the negative factors, we must conclude that this was a very foolish decision.

The Naval Service has proven that given the resources, it can be very effective. I would like to draw the Minister's attention to Operation Seabight, which intercepted €200 million worth of high quality Colombian cocaine, according to the naval authorities, although some media estimates put the figure at €600 million. We can only imagine the damage that would have done to this country. Due to the work of our Naval Service, in co-operation with other local and international agencies, the shipment did not come into this country. That is proof of the effectiveness of our Naval Service.

Various commitments were given in this House by the Minister's predecessor that the three Naval Service vessels aged over 30 years would be replaced, namely, the LE Emer, the LE Aoife and the LE Aisling. On 24 February, the former Minister for Defence gave a commitment that two off-shore patrol vessels and an extended patrol vessel would be introduced. Has a Government decision been made on the provision of those three vessels? Finally, is it possible to reverse the decision on naval patrol days?

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