THE incident in which £130 million worth of cannabis was left in a lorry at Urlingford, Co Kilkenny, last year was a "tragedy", according to Fine Gael MEP Mr John Cushnahan.
It showed the need for a unified Garda and Customs antidrugs operation, he told the ardfheis.
The incident had been a debacle. "We ended up with a huge haul of drugs, no arrests and a proportionately large amount of egg all over our face," Mr Cushnahan said. "This clearly was a controlled delivery which went horribly wrong.
Political controversy has arisen over the haul, with the Progressive Democrats TD Ms Liz O'Donnell asking if the importing of the drugs had been organised by the Garda and if it had ministerial authorisation. There have been suggestions that it was part of a "sting" operation designed to lead to the arrest of major drug dealers in the State.
Mr Cushnahan said such deliveries, "which can cross several countries need close surveillance, the tightest security and total cooperation between and within countries. This can only be achieved if there exists in each country a single organisation with appropriate responsibility.
"Otherwise a situation where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, compounded by the inter service rivalry, will inevitably lead to cock ups.
"The Urlingford case was a real tragedy, for a load of that size was sure to be delivered to important criminals who could have been caught taking delivery," he said.
The ard fheis passed a motion calling on the Government to support the appointment of a European Commissioner responsible solely for tackling Europe's drug problem. It also called for a European coastguard service.