Navy pay rise after drugs bust heroics

UP to €4m a year is expected to be provided in next month’s Budget to bring overtime allowances for the Navy in line with the rest of the civil service.

And according to Independent TD Cathal Berry – a former Army officer – the decision to increase at-sea-payments comes after the Navy played a crucial role in the biggest-ever seizure of drugs in the history of the State.

Up to €157m of cocaine was impounded after members of the elite Army Ranger Wing, customs officers, An Garda

Síochána, the Air Corps and the Navy prevented Panama-registered carrier, the MV Matthew, from leaving Irish waters off the coast of Cork.

This weekend, Mr Berry revealed after meeting with Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe, he expects there will be enough money in next month’s Budget to pay more to those working for the Irish Naval Service.

‘The great irony during the week was there were lower grade public servants from other entities [involved in the raid] on more money than the captain of the ship… there’s something wrong with that.

‘The captain of a navy ship gets €60 a day whereas other public servants who go to sea would be on multiples of that… they would be on three to five times more.

‘We met with Minister Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath during the week. We got our points [about the at-sea-allowance] across and were listened to very receptively. We’ll see what happens over the next few week. Yes, the events over the last few days were a major factor.’

It is believed the cocaine on board was supplied by South American drugs cartels and was destined to go to a number of major crime gangs in Europe.

Last night a senior Navy source claimed the seizure will not deter those involved in the drugs trade from using Irish waters. They said: ‘The drugs industry, organised crime, is an emerging, growing phenomenon across Europe.

‘The number of shipments through Irish territorial waters and EU territorial waters is going to increase – absolutely no doubt about it.’

The source also predicted if drugs were dumped overboard, they may yet wash up along Ireland’s eastern seaboard.

‘That is the way the prevailing tides were and that’s where we’d expect to see them,’ they said. It is believed the smaller boat was on its way to meet the MV Matthew when it became marooned on a sandbank off Wexford last Sunday night.

Five men arrested in connection with the drugs seizure remain in Garda custody. They can be held for up to seven days. Two others have also been charged and appeared before a special sitting of Waterford District Court on Friday night.