Revenue has said it cannot rule out spending up to €20 million maintaining a cargo ship, seized as part of the country’s largest cocaine haul, by the time it hopes to finally dispose of the vessel early next year.
The MV Matthew, a Panamanian-registered bulk carrier, was seized in a joint Revenue, Naval Service, Army Ranger and Garda operation off the south coast in September 2023. On board was 2,253 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated €157 million, amounting to the largest drugs seizure in Irish history.
On Thursday, Revenue chairman Niall Cody told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the ship, currently detained in Cork Harbour, was costing €110,000 per week to berth and maintain, as efforts to secure title, permits of seaworthiness and classification continue.
Mr Cody told the committee disposal of the vessel is a key priority for Revenue. He said he wanted to dispel any ideas that, should the same situation arise again, Revenue would be deterred from seizing any other ship being used for illegal drug trafficking.
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Mr Cody said costs so far had surpassed €12 million. If the ultimate option was to scrap the vessel, there would be additional costs, he said. “Hopefully it won’t cost €20 million but I wouldn’t in any way rule it out,” he said.
Briefing documents supplied to the committee cited costs between September 2023 and the end of November 2025, of €3.128 million for berthing in Cork. The bill for maintenance was €5.18 million while crewing costs were €4.448 million.
Mr Cody said the ship was valued at about €9 million when seized, but he said he did not want to put a value on it now, due to commercial considerations.
He did say, however, “the value has declined considerably” as the vessel had not been used and because doors were “blast bombed” during the seizure, while all of the navigation equipment was removed for evidential purposes. He also said the ship had been fired upon during the seizure operation.
Mr Cody told the Committee there was “still some parties interested” in a possible sale of the ship. He said the time frame for this would be up to three months.
Ruth Kennedy, Revenue Commissioner and director general of customs, said the costs incurred should be looked at in the light of the “societal cost” of the cocaine reaching the general public.
She said a study in the UK had shown costs of €13 billion a year in terms of health services and social supports for those affected by illicit drugs reaching the public. She also cited costs incurred by superyachts seized from Russian oligarchs by authorities in Italy, which she said had amounted to €30,000 a day for one vessel.
Separately, PAC heard concern relating to the evidence of senior management of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) when it came before the committee earlier this month.
Committee member James Geoghegan said it was of concern that documents given to news outlet The Currency under a Freedom of Information request seemed to contradict evidence given to the committee by senior IFI management last week.
On December 4th, the Committee had been discussing who in senior management at IFI had detailed knowledge of a report on allegations the agency allowed an employee involved in a car crash to produce invalid insurance documents to An Garda Síochána.
Committee chairman John Brady TD said it was “deeply concerning” that journalist with The Currency Niall Sargent had secured documents that seemed to “contradict a lot of the testimony that was given to us last week”.
The Committee agreed to invite IFI to appear before it again in the near future.
