The Naval Service chief, Commodore John Kavanagh, has denied there are any proposals to stop drug surveillance off the coast. Commodore Kavanagh, flag officer commanding the Naval Service, told The Irish Times the defence wing fully intended to retain this responsibility as part of its single-agency remit. The retiring Defence Forces chief of staff, Lieut Gen David Stapleton, agreed with him on this, and had been "quoted out of context" recently in relation to the issue, Commodore Kavanagh said.
In a recent newspaper interview, Lieut Gen Stapleton was quoted as having asked the Government to phase out some Aid to Civil Powers (ATCP) duties held by the Defence Forces, including Naval Service involvement in drug patrols. However, Commodore Kavanagh said he was satisfied this proposal related only to very limited duties held by the Army, and most ATCP functions would be retained.
Commodore Kavanagh said a review of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act - under which Naval Service officers are empowered to board vessels suspected of drug smuggling outside the 12-mile territorial limit - has been under way.
However, there were no plans to stop the Naval Service boarding yachts at sea. The eight-ship fleet's main work was in fishery protection, but the mere presence of vessels was a deterrent to drug trafficking, he said.
The service currently acts on intelligence supplied by the Garda Siochana and Customs and Excise, but is involved in general surveillance in Irish waters, he said.
Last year, the fleet was involved in 11 Joint Task Force drug interdiction operations, along with the Garda and Customs and Excise, including the arrest of the British-registered trawler, Posidonia, last November, off the south coast by the LE Ciara with cannabis worth £15.8 million on board.
However, the service's officers, including former second-in-command, Capt Peadar McElhinney, say drug traffickers have almost 20 times greater chance of landing contraband around this coast than anywhere else in Europe.
Commodore Kavanagh said the numbers leaving the service had also dropped "significantly" and attributed this to the stability offered in the aftermath of the White Paper on Defence. Last year, wastage was running at about 10 a month. "We have less wastage now right across the board, but we now also have a policy of continuous recruitment which helps considerably," Commodore Kavanagh said.
"We have the reviews behind us, we have a new organisation in place with an implementation plan, and a clear-cut funding programme for ship replacement over the next 15 years. We have never had that before," he said. The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, is due to attend a cadets' commissioning this week, and the latest passing out of a recruit class, Alpha 2000, took place last Friday in Haulbowline.
The new ship, LE Roisin, is performing "very well", and the next ship is due for delivery in June, 2001. Commodore Kavanagh said he was confident there would be enough personnel to crew it, as the oldest vessel, LE Deirdre, was being decommissioned. The ship's original decommissioning date was 2002.
Asked about recent criticism of the service during the dispute over arrests of Irish tuna vessels, Commodore Kavanagh said there was no specific order to withdraw or scale down surveillance.
"We respond to policy from the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources, and there was no change in that," he said.
