State can dispose of €100,000/week cost of maintaining ship seized in drug haul 

The men face drugs and organised crime charges after some 2.25 tonnes of cocaine was seized from the Panamanian-registered large bulk carrier MV Matthew in Irish waters in September 2023. File Picture: Niall Carson/PA

A court has ordered that the State can dispose of the €100,000/week cost of maintaining a cargo ship alleged to have been used in one of the largest drugs' hauls in Irish history.

The State has been paying €100,000 every week since the MV Matthew was seized in dramatic fashion when the specialist wing of the Irish Defence Forces, the army rangers, stormed it in September 2023.

Working with customs agents, they seized 2.2 tonnes of cocaine worth an estimated €157m.

Eight men are due to go on trial next year at the Special Criminal Court charged in relation to the haul.

John Berry SC, for the State, previously told the court that the ship was formally forfeit to the State on November 19, 2023. The State had maintained the ship to allow access for the defence legal teams.

At a hearing on Monday, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo ordered that the State is no longer obliged to make the ship available for inspection.

The judge put a stay of two weeks on the order, but has allowed the State to "put into train" the process of disposal immediately.

None of the defence teams objected to the order, but they will have an opportunity to raise any issues when the matter is mentioned before the court again next Monday.

Mr Berry said the process of disposal is likely to take more than one month.