Written answers
Thursday, 29 March 2007
Department of Finance
Drug Seizures
7:00 pm
Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 145: To ask the Minister for Finance if customs officials employ a sniffer dog at Shannon Airport; if so, the number of drug seizures and their total value the dog has been involved in; the length of time the dog has been employed by customs at Shannon; if no dog is employed at Shannon, when was the last time a sniffer dog was employed; the reason it was removed from duties; and the running costs associated with employing a sniffer dog on an annual basis. [12239/07]
Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that one drug detector dog is permanently based at Shannon Airport. A dog has been used by customs officials at the airport continuously since 1991. The annual cost of the dog team â including the salary of the dog handler â is approximately â¬86,000 with an initial start up cost of â¬54,000.
The dog based in Shannon is trained to quickly pass over baggage, or through a group of people, and detect prohibited drugs by smell. On detection, the dog sits and "points" at the location of the drugs. The dog is then immediately removed by its handler, and further investigation is carried out by other members of the customs team. Quite often, the dog is used to support or negate suspicions formed by customs officers observing traffic through the airport. Because the dog always works as part of a larger team, separate statistics are not kept for detections by the dog.
Over the last three years there have been 145 drug seizures with an estimated street value of â¬499,925 at Shannon Airport and the dog has been involved in a very significant number of them. Revenue views the use of dogs as an essential part of its anti-smuggling activities, and has no intention of reducing the dog team's activities at Shannon.
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