CHEMICAL companies have agreed to alert the Customs Service if they suspect illicit drug manufacturers are trying to buy their products.
The Customs and the Irish Pharmaceutical and Chemical Manufacturers' Federation signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday by which the companies will inform Customs of any suspicion that a potential customer could be linked to the illegal drugs trade.
The organisations said the document was a formalisation of something already in practice.
Chemical companies feel they have a "public duty" to make sure their buyers are not supplying illegal drug makers, according to Mr Bob Rutledge, chairman of the federation and managing director of Henkel Ireland in Cork.
Mr Rutledge said it was impossible to estimate how much business chemical companies conducted with people who supplied makers of illegal drugs. But he added that chemical and pharmaceutical companies knew their customers well, and were "immediately suspicious of inquiries from people they don't know".
"We would look for the bona fides of any inquiry."
He added that relatively common and legal chemicals are used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.
Mr Liam Hurley, of the Customs National Drugs Team, said only two types of drugs - opiates and cannabis - which were used in the Republic were taken in pure form and did not require chemical processing. The rest involved illegal manufacturers buying materials from chemical companies.
"We're not asking employees of the companies to become law enforcement officers," he said. "We only want to be alerted to a suspicious customer, and we will make inquiries".