Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

We all share Deputy Deenihan's concern about the impact of drugs in our society. A substantial proportion is imported by sea and unfortunately, the people involved in this business have found all sorts of ways to get the narcotics into the country.

Patrolling per se is not a hugely important part of the system for detecting the arrival or the possible importation of drugs. As electronic surveillance and automatic identification systems of one kind or another have become more sophisticated, especially at the centre in Lisbon, the Naval Service is generally called on to intercept a vessel that is already underway. Naval Service vessels happen by chance to come across ships importing illegal drugs on a far less frequent basis. There are, therefore, three important parallel developments: internal co-operation between agencies here; international co-operation, which I announced in the answer; and highly sophisticated surveillance systems, which are now available. All of these play an important role. At that point, in most instances, the role of the Naval Service comes into play and it is called on to deal with the issue. It has proved itself to be extraordinarily adept and highly professional in dealing with that matter. The Naval Service is to be commended for the manner in which it does so.

Deputy Deenihan also asked about vessel replacement and we will shortly reach a parliamentary question on that specific issue. I will provide a formal answer then, so perhaps we can deal with it at that stage.

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