Ireland ‘rapidly becoming’ part of ‘cocaine pipeline’, warns US report

It further states that the increased availability and consumption of crack cocaine has led to an “increase in street violence” in Dublin city.

The Ireland Country Security Report, published by the US State Department, said that cocaine use was on the increase in Europe in recent years, reflected by major hauls along the coastline.

“The country has become a transit point or destination for the drug, with significant seizures suggesting that Ireland is rapidly becoming part of the South American-European cocaine pipeline and a supply route to the UK, as well as supplying the internal markets north and south,” the report said.

The distribution networks are financed and enabled by transnational organized crime groups

The briefing was conducted by the Overseas Security Advisory Council, a public-private partnership between the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and security professionals from US organisations operating abroad.

It said the number of young people treated for cocaine use has more than doubled in recent years, and this highlighted that the cocaine problem worsened during the covid pandemic.

“Additionally, the increased availability and consumption of crack cocaine have led to an increase in street violence in Dublin,” it said.

The report said research showed that Ireland had the second highest number of opiate users per head in the EU, with heroin the main drug consumed.

“Half of the estimated users are males over 35-years-old, and most are concentrated in Dublin’s poorer areas,” it said.

The US document follows reports, published in the Irish Examiner yesterday, that Ireland was set to join a European ports network charged with tackling the booming maritime drugs trade.

The European Ports Alliance was established earlier this year the European Commission Home Affairs Directorate and brings together both State agencies and private operators of ports.

Irish authorities have established an implementation group, comprising relevant departments, agencies and public port operators to enable Ireland to join the alliance.

Last week, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction warned that South American drug cartels were increasingly targeting “smaller ports” — away from the major ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam — and that this could include “all ports in all countries”.

The European Drugs Report 2024, published by the European centre, said 323 tonnes of cocaine were seized by member states in 2022, compared to 303 tonnes in 2021, and up from 80 tonnes in 1996.

It was the sixth year in a row of record hauls of cocaine.

The report said European seizures now exceed that of the US, traditionally the world’s largest cocaine market

Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland all reported record hauls of cocaine in 2023.

The centre said cocaine supplies are increasingly coming through ports, in maritime shipping containers, a trend seen in Cork and Rosslare ports, and Foynes in Limerick.