MORE SHIPS SOUGHT TO WIN BATTLE ON DRUGS

The White Paper on defence, published last month, is no more than an
exercise in "virtual reality", which ignores the fact we are
surrounded by water, according to the former second-in-command of the
Naval Service, Capt Peadar Mc Elhinney. The State, he said, was
inundated with far more drugs than it could uncover.

When he retired last autumn, Capt Mc Elhinney was commander of the
naval headquarters at Haulbowline in Cork Harbour and second in
command in the Naval Service. He spent a distinguished career at sea
dealing first-hand with the operational problems that confront the
service. He always held strong views but had to wait to express them.
Now he has.

"Logic will tell you that the sea is the way in for drug smugglers and
that our coastline is particularly vulnerable. The seizure rate has
improved from about 10 per cent of what is getting ashore to maybe 20
per cent. But we are not stopping the bulk of what is coming in. It
comes down to resources. If the navy is not funded properly and does
not have enough ships, how can we prevent the follow on in terms of
street crime, much of it drug-related?

"If there is a problem in a neighbourhood, extra gardai are provided.
I'm saying that the White Paper has not addressed the question of
coastal policing. We have eight vessels but we need at least 15. We
have to create a deterrent out there, a proper one, with a
multi-tasked purpose - namely drugs, fishery patrol and pollution. To
do that, we also need to double the number of personnel to about 2,000.

"We are talking about the proper defence of the citizens of the State
against drug dealers; marine traffic that will pollute our coastline
and move on, as well as precious fish resources that must be
protected. In reality, that often means the proper protection of Irish
fishermen who are being harassed by bigger and foreign fishing vessels."

Another hugely important role for the Naval Service, says Capt Mc
Elhinney, is that vessels carrying nuclear waste are travelling
unescorted to and from the controversial Sellafield plant, just across
the water. What are the implications, he asks, for the Irish coast and
its inhabitants, should an accident occur. The Naval Service should
have a direct involvement in this because there is too much at stake,
he says.

When the Aer Lingus Viscount aircraft went down off the Tuskar Rock,
and when it was commonly assumed that a drone from a military base on
the British side went awry, the Irish authorities asked the British
navy to help with the recovery of the debris.

"In my view, this was like asking the crooks to investigate the crime.
We have to have a presence but as it stands now, the number of navy
vessels out there is the equivalent to one Garda patrol car for the
whole of Ireland. Think about it."

Capt Mc Elhinney served with the United Nations as senior military
adviser in Afghanistan in 1998 and saw drug production at first hand
in the Kunar Province. One day, he saw a man and his two sons lancing
poppies - "to extract the brown `goo' ". It would later be smoked as
opium or processed into heroin; the man was unaware of the potential
havoc it would bring to Europe, Afghanistan's main market.

All he knew was that it was an additional cash crop which would
augment his meagre income. Dried poppy seeds would be used as
flavouring, stalks fed to his livestock and the money from the "goo"
would put honey on his bread. "There are many like him all over
Afghanistan," he says.

He adds: "In a submission of over 50 pages, the Navy reasoned for a
15-ship fleet to allow it adequately police our seas and our
underwater maritime territory. A four-page response is all it
warranted in the 72-page White Paper document. So much for zero
tolerance . . . Minister Smith speaks about the building of hospitals
being more important than the building of ships. If the Navy doesn't
get the ships it needs to stop drugs coming into the State, more
hospitals will be needed than he can imagine!"