Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which he or his European colleagues have considered the degree to which enhanced coastal surveillance can be achieved with a view to combating ongoing serious drug trafficking with particular reference to the coast around Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26118/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Customs services, both nationally and internationally, are acutely conscious of the importance of coastal surveillance and it is considered regularly at national and international fora. The Customs and Excise service of the Revenue Commissioners has primary responsibility for the prevention, detection, interception and seizure of controlled drugs at importation in Ireland and is well aware of the potential for smuggling drugs along our extensive coastline. The customs service operates a number of maritime units for inshore and coastal surveillance, and is supported nationally by both the Irish Naval Service and the Air Corps. Over recent years, the customs service has considerable success in seizing large quantities of drugs in maritime traffic. Many of these operations involved collaboration with the Garda Síochána and other national and international law enforcement agencies. The service also maintains close working relationships with other foreign customs and law enforcement services responsible for maritime and coastal surveillance.

The Customs and Excise service regularly evaluates its operational response to drug smuggling on the basis of sophisticated risk analysis based on intelligence gathering at all levels of the drugs production and supply chain network, including current national and international drug smuggling routes and the smuggling methodologies used. The customs service has re-launched its customs drugs watch programme, which seeks to enlist the help of the public in the critical element of reducing the supply of illicit drugs by notifying customs on a confidential basis of suspicious activity at our sea, land, and air boundaries. Customs has also acquired a new revenue customs cutter, RCC Suirbhéir, which now patrols and monitors our internal waters, territorial seas and adjacent waters. The customs service has also enhanced a number of its anti-drugs programmes, specifically its canine programme, which now has nine drug detector teams strategically deployed at our main ports and airports. Later this year, customs will take delivery of a state-of-the-art mobile X-ray container examination unit to assist in countering the smuggling of drugs and other illicit products in containerised freight traffic.

At national level, Customs and Excise engages in regular surveillance exercises and joint operations with its inter-agency drugs joint task force partners, that is, the Garda Síochána, naval service and Air Corps. At EU level, through membership of the customs co-operation working party and engagement with Europol, customs continues to organise and participate in regular bilateral, trilateral and EU-wide intelligence-led joint surveillance exercises and operations, including maritime focused operations, with other customs and law enforcement agencies. In 2003, the Irish customs service led and co-ordinated an international surveillance operation to tackle the smuggling of drugs into the EU and neighbouring countries by sea. The Customs and Excise services of 26 other European countries participated in this very successful operation during which they seized over seven tonnes of cannabis resin and 730 kg of cocaine. Such surveillance operations are a regular feature of the supply reduction work undertaken by Customs and Excise to detect and to disrupt drug smuggling operations and are wholly in keeping with the responsibilities laid to Customs and Excise in the national drugs strategy.