YESTERDAY'S seizure of what could be as much as 100 kilos of cocaine represents another boost for the authorities in the fight against the drug trade.
If 100 kilos of cocaine has been found, the seizure will be more than twice the size of the haul in Moneypoint, Co Clare, last month, and will ensure that this year's figures for cocaine seizures will be at least six times the amount found by gardai last year.
Neither the Moneypoint nor the Cork hauls appear to have been destined for the Republic.
But the success of yesterday's operation will boost the confidence of the Naval Service, Customs and the Garda. It also comes at a good time for the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, and a Government which has promoted international co operation against drug traffickers as one of the major themes of its EU presidency.
It will also be valuable support for the Government's argument for EU funding for a coastguard service, on the basis that much of the drug trafficking into Europe is passing through Irish waters and even through the Republic itself.
The cocaine shipment intercepted yesterday seems to have been an unusual one. The motor launch used a converted 60 foot trawler, is a type of pleasure craft not normally associated with transatlantic drug runs.
At between £80 and £100 a gramme for the "street level" buyer, cocaine is an expensive drug. It is not clear how widely it is used in the Republic, although gardai in Cork and Dublin have noticed increased use in both cities.
Cocaine is mixed with baking soda or a similar substance to make crack cocaine, a highly addictive drug which gives its abuser a brief but potent "high". In March, a garda sergeant in an inner Dublin drug unit, John O'Driscoll, said he thought there was "the possibility, at least, of a serious problem developing in relation to crack cocaine". And in Cork last July another garda sergeant, Michael Fitzpatrick, told a court that Garda intelligence suggested quite a large number, of people in the city were now using cocaine.
The drug is also used on its own by a small number of relatively well off people, often in the entertainment business.
There seems to have been an element of luck for the Irish authorities in yesterday's haul. The vessel is said to have been on its way to Breslin France, but pulled in to the Irish coast near Midleton seeking protection from a force 9 gale. It has also been suggested that the boat had engine trouble, a development which could have left the vessel vulnerable to capsize if it was unable to make headway in rough seas.
In August a bulk carrier, the Front Guider, pulled into Moneypoint with a cargo of coal for the ESB power station there. It was guided in by the Naval Service and a search of the vessel at the ESB jetty resulted in a find of what was first thought to be 59 kilos of cocaine. Later, the estimate was reduced to 40 kilos, on which the authorities placed a street value of up to £30 million.
On this basis the cocaine found yesterday - if it amounts to 100 kilos of cocaine - could have a value of up to £60 million. But the authorities are wary of placing such, figures on the haul until the cocaine has been weighed and tested for purity.
Determining the street value of a seizure is a black art. Neither Customs nor Garda enjoy this aspect of the operation. On the one hand they are keen to get proper credit for a significant find; on the other they are conscious of the danger that too high up estimate can breed public scepticism about the sums involved.
The gramme of cocaine bought on the street costs £80-£100, but it may be only 50 per cent pure, compared to cocaine intercepted as it is being, shipped from South America, which can be more than 70-80 per cent pure. Street values are also calculated by taking into account the increase in the price of a consignment as it passes from one dealer to the next.
For the Moneypoint seizure Customs settled on an eventual street value of £32 million for 4,0 kilos, or £800,000 per kilo. This represents £800 per gram me, some eight times higher than the actual street price. Even taking into account dilution of the drug as it passes along the dealers' distribution chain - which reduces its purity level but increases its bulk - it seems rather a high figure.