P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this matter on the Adjournment. When discussing the successful capture by the Naval Service of the yacht Dances with Waves off the coast of south-west Cork on "Today with Pat Kenny" last Friday, the Minister for Defence referred to the previous unsuccessful attempt to import drugs from the yacht Lucky Day 17 months earlier. He stated:

There is a kind of perception abroad that the previous huge seizure 17 months ago that you mentioned there in west Cork around the same area was something that was more or less stumbled upon by accident. That is not true. I mean, that had been tracked also. That is not widely known that it had been widely tracked also.

As the minister stumbled over his words, he went on to state:

It would probably would have been taken, arrested and taken into custody, had the accident not happened which precipitated the action on the part of the officials here.

I do not know whether the Minister was still dreaming or just inventing a bit of revisionist history at that hour of the morning, but I would like to know where did he come up with this fairy tale.

It totally contradicts the statements by everyone else involved in this matter, including senior Garda officers who, on the day, described the capture as "an act of God". It also contradicts the evidence given by Commander Gene Ryan of the Naval Service in the trial of some of those charged and convicted over these events. In an interview with the "News at One" on RTE Radio 1 on 23 July 2008 at the conclusion of the trial, Commander Ryan explained how he traced the journey of the yacht from the records of two satellite phones recovered from the stricken RIB in Dunlough Bay, with the specialist technical help from the Iridium satellite phone company, and which involved many thousands of man hours to plot the history of their movements. It also contradicts the statement by Customs and Excise official Mr. Brian Smyth at the joint task force press conference last week, when he likened the illegal transportation of the massive volume of cocaine to the shipment which was fortuitously intercepted off the west Cork coast last year.

The new European maritime analysis and operation centre for narcotics only became operational on 25 July 2007, three weeks after the Dunlough Bay event. I have heard of delays in the operation of Government organisations all my political life, but I have never heard of one beginning before its starting date.

Will the Minister confirm that neither the Garda, the Naval Service, nor Customs and Excise were tracking the movements of the yacht named Lucky Day before 2 July 2007? Will he confirm that neither he nor any State agency, including the Garda, the Naval Service and Customs and Excise were aware that any other agency was tracking this vessel before 2 July 2007? Will he also confirm that there was no Garda, Customs and Excise or Naval Service operation in progress on 2 July 2007 to monitor the movements of this vessel and its occupants or the activities of others on land, which led to the arrest of the four men subsequently convicted or others who may have been involved in this illegal attempt to import drugs into this country before the communications received from the local coast guard unit to a member of the Garda on 2 July 2007? Will the Minister also congratulate the professional work and expertise of the Coast Guard unit, which arrived first on the scene and raised the alarm with the authorities?

The Minister for Defence often has a great turn of phrase, but in this case I think we can call it "premature recollection".

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I call on the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, who also has five minutes.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State will not be able to answer that.

P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Give him a chance.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern. I thank Deputy Sheehan for raising this important matter in the House. I should start by saying that the Minister is only answerable to this House concerning An Garda Síochána.

P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for Defence answered Pat Kenny.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Investigations are still ongoing on this matter, albeit in other jurisdictions, and the Minister is still restricted as to what he can say about this particular case. On top of that, the Minister firmly holds the view that he should not openly disclose the intelligence that may or may not be available to members of An Garda Síochána at any particular time, or what action is taken on foot of that intelligence. In the circumstances, it is not possible to go into specific operational details of the kind sought by the Deputy.

What is a matter of public record is that the joint task force of An Garda Síochána, the Customs Service, and the Naval Service worked extremely well together in the investigation that followed the seizure in Dunlough Bay and this resulted in four successful convictions in Ireland.

The Minister would like once again to commend the work of the joint task force last week in Operation Seabight. This operation involving An Garda Síochána, the Customs Service and the Naval Service, working closely with our international partners in the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (Narcotics) in Lisbon, is an example of what can be achieved when we collaborate and work together for the common good. The Minister is grateful for the strong support for the operation in this house.

The subject of this Adjournment matter specifically relates to the interdiction of drugs at sea, but we should not overlook the fact that when drugs find their way into the country considerable efforts are made by An Garda Síochána to track these down and seize them. In 2007, the total amount of drugs seized had an estimated street value of €155 million. As of 11 November, this year's seizures have already amounted to €203 million. Of necessity, figures for 2008 are provisional. While some would argue that this means there are more and more drugs coming into Ireland, it could also be that our law enforcement agencies are obtaining better intelligence and are getting better at detections and seizures.

The Minister has been advised by the Garda authorities that in addition to the considerable volumes of drugs which continue to be seized, of which last week's huge cocaine haul is further evidence, significant impact has been made in 2008 by arresting and prosecuting a number of major players involved in drug trafficking through the importation, sale and distribution of drugs.

Obviously there is little room for complacency and this work is ongoing. To further assist in our law enforcement efforts against drug trafficking, a number of new initiatives have been introduced. Some examples of these include the establishment in January 2008 of the Garda organised crime unit on a permanent footing, which now has a full-time staff of 70 officers; the provisions introduced in the Criminal Justice Acts 2006 and 2007, which have provided further measures to enhance the powers of the Garda Síochána in the investigation and prosecution of drug offences; the ring-fencing of €21 million in the 2009 Estimates to enable Operation Anvil to continue with targeted disruption of serious and organised criminal activity throughout the country——

P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Rubbish.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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——and the continued increase in the personnel strength of the Garda Síochána. Its attested strength will increase to almost 14,900 by the end of 2009, from its current attested strength of 14,267.

P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Pure rubbish. The Minister of State is not answering the allegations made by the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, on the Pat Kenny show.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister cannot give straight answers to straight questions.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has particularly asked me to mention the establishment of the Maritime Analysis and Operational Centre (Narcotics) in Lisbon. Established in 2007, the centre is focused on targeting the sea and air cocaine routes from Central and South America into the European Union. It collects and analyses operational information, enhances intelligence through better information exchange, and ascertains the availability of assets to facilitate interdictions in accordance with the national laws of the countries involved. The centre is an international and inter-agency co-ordination force, focused on intelligence exchange leading to the interdiction of large maritime and aviation drug shipments, and to the severing of links between transportation networks and the shore-based command and control personnel.

Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and the Netherlands are the founding members of the centre. Europol, the European Commission and the US joint inter-agency task force south are observers at the centre. Ireland has Garda and customs liaison officers based at the centre on a full-time basis. The Naval Service appoints an officer to the centre for the duration of operations with Irish involvement. This summer, Ireland became the first member state to ratify the international agreement establishing the centre. The Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, is fully supportive of Irish participation in the centre. The Minister is also supportive of all measures that involve practical co-operation and increase international co-ordination.

The Minister wishes to assure the Deputy that he will continue to keep the measures for tackling all forms of drug trafficking under review. The enforcement of the law on drugs continues to be a key element in the Government's policing priorities and this is reflected in An Garda Síochána's policing plan for 2008.

P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Will the Minister of State give me an assurance that the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, will correct the misinformation he gave on the Pat Kenny show?