South American cartels will 'exploit' cuts to Irish naval service, expert warns

The L.É. William Butler Yeats at the Naval Base, Haulbowline, Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane.

South American cocaine cartels “will exploit” maritime gaps caused by deepening cuts to the Irish naval service, a top expert has warned.

Michael O’Sullivan, who is the former head of MAOC-N, the EU frontline agency tasked with combating the Atlantic cocaine trade, said traffickers have their own “intelligence systems” and when they learn of cuts to naval strength among EU states they will target shipments accordingly.

The ex-garda assistant commissioner was responding to reports that the naval service had been forced to place two more of its ships on ‘operational reserve’ due to its ongoing staffing crisis.

This leaves it with just two vessels to patrol almost 440,000sq km of waters in Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone. It marks a further deterioration in the fleet, which is down from six ships over a year ago and nine vessels in 2021.

On Thursday, the Gardaí's top drug officer told the Irish Examiner that South American cartels have “huge stockpiles” of cocaine.

Mr O’Sullivan said while he is worried about the reduction of the fleet from six to four ships earlier this year, he is “even more concerned now that we have just two vessels”.

He said: “Traffickers have their own intelligence systems, and if there are fewer boats around Irish waters, that is the way they will go. They look for the line of least resistance.

If the Irish navy has half or quarter the assets they used to have; from a law-enforcement perspective, they are only a quarter or half as effective.” 

He said Ireland has obligations to intercept drug traffickers “not just for Ireland’s sake, but also the EU’s sake”.

Mr O’Sullivan, who works as a security consultant, said Ireland is the most westerly point of Europe and covers the North Atlantic.

“There’s no other navy that can get a vessel as fast into the North Atlantic as the Irish navy," he said. "If you don’t have enough vessels in the North Atlantic, transatlantic organised crime groups will exploit any weakness there.” 

He said MAOC-N, which Ireland is a member of, "depends" on the Irish navy in the North Atlantic, for it to be able to respond quickly to a request to get "eyes and ears" on a suspect vessel before it is gone.