Timeline: Ireland's history of major drug seizures

Customs officers, naval service personnel and gardaí removing the 75 bales of cocaine from the yacht, Dances With Waves, at Dinish Island pier, Castletownbere, after the yacht was seized some 180 miles off the south west coast of Ireland in November 2008. Picture: Denis Minihane

The focus on the Castlemore vessel which ran aground off the coast of Wexford is the latest in a series of maritime drug-related incidents in Ireland over the past three decades.

Use of Ireland’s vast coastline, particularly along the south and west, is something which has been happening since at least the early 1990s. Not only can the rugged and jagged nature of the Irish coastline be easily exploited but Ireland’s location at the gateway to Europe makes it a haven for smugglers.

July 1991: 700kgs of cannabis resin was found on board the Karma vessel in Courtmacsherry.

December 1992: 50kgs of cannabis resin thrown overboard from a vessel in Cork harbour.

May 1993: 150kgs of cannabis resin found buried on Warren beach in Rosscarbery.

June 1993: 700kgs of cannabis resin found on the Tangle Wind yacht on a beach in Tragumna, Cork.

November & December 1993: 1,259kgs of cannabis resin trawled south of Kinsale, Cork.

December 1994: 26.8kgs of cannabis resin trawled off Cork coast.

September & October 1995: 300kgs of cannabis resin trawled from the seabed off Wexford.

September 1996: 599kgs of cocaine taken off the Sea Mist in Cobh.

September 1998: 320kgs of cocaine found on the Gemeos catamaran in Kinsale.

November 1999: 1.5 tonnes of cannabis resin on board the Posidonia, six miles off the Fastnet Rock.

July 2007: 1,550kgs of cocaine found in the waters of Dunlough Bay, off Mizen Head.

November 2008: 1.875 tonnes of cocaine taken from the Dances with Waves yacht after it was brought into Castletownbere under naval escort.

September 2014: The Makayabella was found to be carrying just over a tonne of cocaine from Venezuela when it was apprehended off west Cork. The yacht was escorted into Haulbowline by the Navy, where a deep rummage was conducted.

October 2016: Approximately 75kgs of cocaine was found in a device shaped like a torpedo on a beach near Liscannor in Clare. It was suspected that the device had been attached to a vessel before washing up on the beach at Kilmacreehy.

July 2023: A vessel was impounded in Donegal as part of an operation into the discovery of packages of suspected cocaine along the north Donegal coastline. One package was found at Ballyhiernan Beach in Fanad, while a similar package was found at Tramore Beach.

September 2023: Two men were rescued after the Castlemore fishing trawler ran aground at Blackwater, Co. Wexford, followed by a multi-agency drugs search in the seas off the county.