A thirty-year-old coastal watch service is being revived in Galway in the wake of the dramatic seizure of €165m of cocaine off Cork last week.
Staffed 365 days per year by revenue officers on a 24-hour basis, Coastal Watch is a dedicated, confidential phoneline which members of the public can use to report suspicious activity at sea or in coastal areas.
Relaunched at an event in Clifden last week, and attended by officials from several law enforcement agencies, reaction amongst Galway’s marine community has been mixed, with support for the service tempered by concern at a lack of police resources for Galway’s coastline.
“More fishermen should have been invited,” says one Rossaveal-based fisherman. “We are the neighbourhood watch for the Bay. The Fisheries officers can barely stop boats from [Cork and Kerry] hoovering up sprat and killing the ecosystem, and with no regular Revenue boat here it must be open season for coke floats from South America.”
At present Galway gardaí and Revenue officials have no marine assets, compared to a decade ago when a number of rigid inflatable boats (RIBs ) manned by customs officers were available to gardaí in the western region. In a statement, Garda HQ said the Athlone-based Garda Water Unit provides operational support and search capabilities for County Galway when requested.
Speaking to the Galway Advertiser, Chief Superintendent Gerry Roche says he sympathises with fishermen’s concerns, and confirmed he has a budget to rent vessels for Garda use when necessary: “That’s probably a better use of resources than Garda boats rusting or breaking down when not in use. We are having strategy conversations with our colleagues in Revenue and Customs about sharing assets here in the future, as they have the personnel with ongoing training to develop them,” he said.
Revenue has 16 operational officers in its western division, and two cutters, RCC Suirbhéir and RCC Faire, which operate nationally on a ‘no home port’ policy.
Over the past decade, “less than a dozen” large packages of illegal drugs have been accidentally dragged up by trawlers in Galway Bay and on the Porcupine Bank, according to Garda sources. Chief Supt Roche says the new phoneline will assist trawlermen contact officers confidentially as there is often a fear – whether real or imagined - of retribution from smugglers in coastal communities if finds are reported. Several community representatives were invited to and attended the meeting in Clifden, he added.
The Garda western division from Donegal to Dundalk and Galway currently stands at 623 on-duty members, with 100 garda support staff. Including the islands, Co Galway’s coastline is over 1,000km long.
A total of 2,253kg of cocaine was found on the MV Matthew cargo ship off County Cork last week after members of the Army Ranger Wing captured the vessel by abseiling from a helicopter during high winds. This is reportedly the biggest seizure in the history of the state.
The largest coastal drug bust in Galway was in 1994 when cannabis worth £10m (€23.5m today ) was seized on a beach by gardaí near Ballyconneely.
In 2016, 75 kilos of cocaine was confiscated by Revenue officers from a torpedo-like capsule found on a beach in County Clare; a method of smuggling difficult for gardaí to detect.
Members of the public are urged to report packages floating at sea, crews landing in remote areas, unusual buoys or signals, possible unauthorised landings by foreign vessels, merchant shipping at anchor close to land or islands, or ships signalling ashore – especially at night – and being met by small boats without lights.
Call Coast Watch on 1800 295 295. All calls confidential, and names are not required to make a report. [email protected]
