A ship loaded with cocaine swerves from a pursuing Irish naval vessel. Warning shots are fired. Finally, troops descend on deck from a helicopter in gale force winds.
The operation in 2023 was Ireland’s biggest and most spectacular drug bust. The nation is now one of the world’s most avid cocaine users, and its rugged coastline draws smugglers seeking access to the EU.
“In the last three years, we’ve had record cocaine seizures,” said Ruth Kennedy, a commissioner of the Irish revenue service with responsibility for customs.
With cocaine production in Latin America at a record high, the drug has become more widespread in a country that spawned one of Europe’s most notorious drug cartels, the Kinahan gang, whose boss, Daniel Kinahan is holed up in Dubai. Addiction rates have grown, with more people seeking treatment, according to Ireland’s state Health Research Board.
Joe Treacy, a specialist in addiction in County Galway on Ireland’s west coast, says the problem has never been worse in his three decades-long career.
“I’m seeing prolific use. It’s now second nature, almost part and parcel of social life,” he added. “Weddings, funerals, any occasion, it seems to be a prerequisite that cocaine is available. It’s all ages, from 16 to 90.”
The high seas interdiction of the MV Matthew culminated in the seizure of 2.2 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of €157mn.
Since the Matthew, more than 150 seizures totalling almost 1.5 tonnes had been made by early July, including a 440kg haul on July 1. “How many more do we not intercept?” asked Treacy.
Ireland ranks fourth globally for cocaine use behind Australia, Spain and the Netherlands, according to a 2023 UN report, on a par with the US and Austria, and ahead of the UK.
But the Irish data in that study is from 2019 — and evidence suggests its use has kept climbing since then.
The amount of cocaine seized so far this year is 10 times higher than in the whole of 2019. In the past seven years, the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine has risen 250 per cent, according to the HRB.
The Rutland Centre, one of Ireland’s main addiction facilities, reported a 35 per cent rise in cocaine use in 2024 — one of the sharpest single-year increases it has recorded for any drug.
Dublin is among Europe’s top cocaine-consuming cities, an analysis of wastewater by the European Union Drugs Agency found last year.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s consumption of alcohol has dropped 31 per cent over the past quarter-century. Almost a third of its people do not drink at all, according to the HRB.
Ireland itself, with 5.4mn people, is a very small market — but it offers a gateway into the UK and the EU. A further appeal for criminals may be that its navy has only eight ships, of which three can be put to sea at any one time. Just two customs ships are available to secure its almost 3,200-km coastline.
Column chart of Ireland cocaine seizures, mn euros showing Ireland seized a record €220mn of cocaine in 2023
Its remote beaches attract cartels seeking new routes for their surging cocaine supplies. Coca crops in Colombia drove global production to a record 3,708 tons in 2023, according to the UN, up 34 per cent from 2022.
“If you do land something in Ireland, then you’re into the European Union,” said Séamus Boland, head of the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, part of Ireland’s police force, An Garda Síochána.
“One of the biggest problems at the moment in Europe is at-sea drop-offs,” he added.
It was the method the MV Matthew had intended to use in 2023.
The Panamanian-registered vessel, which set sail from the Caribbean island of Curaçao off the coast of Venezuela, was the “mother ship”. It had planned to transfer its cargo to a fishing trawler bought in Ireland and paid for by a crime group.
The plans unravelled when the “daughter” ship due to pick up the cocaine at sea ran aground, leaving an increasingly panicked crew on the Matthew to liaise by voice message with “Captain Noah” — the gangster in Dubai overseeing the operation.
An Irish patrol ship, the LÉ WB Yeats, gave chase. “I have fired a warning shot. Do you understand?” radioed the naval commander, according to a video released by Irish police in early July.
“Irish warship, please don’t fire at us,” came the response. But it was too late and elite Rangers, Ireland’s special operations force, abseiled on to the ship as it was buffeted by a gale.
Officials have not indicated whom they suspect of being behind the cargo, but Angela Willis, assistant Garda commissioner for organised and serious crime, said it was “reasonable to assume the Kinahans” were involved.
Ireland has cracked down hard on organised crime and scored a coup against the Kinahans in May when Daniel Kinahan’s “closest confidant” was extradited to Dublin from the UAE — a move seen as preparing the way for his boss to make the same journey.
In early July, the eight sailors involved in the MV Matthew operation were jailed for a total of 129 years.
After the sentencing, detective superintendent Joe O’Reilly from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, said the message was clear: “Ireland is not a soft target.”
Treacy said cocaine was used by all types of people, from farmers to business people and he also saw a correlation with a sometimes “reckless” attitude to drinking. Despite the fall in overall consumption, binge drinking — defined as six drinks or more in a single session — is on the rise.
But the country’s struggle with drugs is far from over. “We’re at full employment, we have lots of money,” said Willis. “And people aren’t making the link between a line of cocaine and the murder and misery of organised crime groups.”
Probably Irish and British driving that one outlier in Spain too
Who’s doing cocaine in this economy?!
Take that Denmark.
Cost of living crises me hole 😅😅😅
People who use cocaine are scum. They can tell themselves otherwise, but they’re junkies that feed criminals.
Horrible drug
Belgium is 100% all the folk at the European commission
I wonder if they did a “alcohol v cocaine” graph what would it look like.
I’d wager the top drinking cities are the top coke cities. Such is the world today.
Where is France in that list? Is their consumption so low that they weren’t even included?
Couple months ago in a tiny rural pub in a village of about 300 people i went into the women’s bathroom to find 5 girls in their 20’s sniffing it off of the sinks. That’s when it hit home for me that cocaine addiction will soon be a serious issue. Then I hear news that someone I went to school with has been stealing money – why? He was always a lovely lad, must be a rumour gone astray… nope, drug debt.
My cousin was blatantly on cocaine at my brother’s funeral. Yeah, I’m not sure I’ll ever fully forgive or forget that.
No guards in rural ireland means drug dealers have a clean run to sell cocaine 24/7 , most towns in county Limerick are controlled by drug gangs
It’s such a sad reality, don’t get me wrong, did it on occasion back in the day if somebody offered, but now it seems like every pub you walk into people are just doing it casually.
Don’t get me wrong, if you do it occasionally, while not ideal, I get it, but going to pubs now it’s the same faces at the same bar coming up chatting to you and the only concern they have is another line.
What has happened?
You’ll never beat the irish
Every Jacks in Dublin is a Henry Hoover factory so it’s no surprise.
I smell like Joop.
Seen it at my nephews communion. My friends wedding. My friends dad’s funeral. It’s everywhere
**How many people use cocaine in Ireland?**
According to the Healthy Ireland survey, in 2022/23:
– 8% of respondents report lifetime cocaine use. 2% report last year cocaine use, with 1% of
the population reporting last month cocaine use.
– Men (3%) are more likely than women (1%) to report last year cocaine use.
– Cocaine use in the last year is most common among those aged 15-34, see Table 1.
– Men aged 25-34 (8%) have the highest prevalence of last year cocaine use, compared to 2% of women in the same age group.
– Last month cocaine use is most common among those aged 15-24 and 25-34 inclusive (1%).
Cocaine use isn’t as widespread as people portray. It only seems like it’s everywhere because you’re going to places where it’s used.
People are reading more from the chart than it actually says. Relatively, we’re using more than others but the amount we’re using based on that chart is estimated as 1g per 1,000 people per day. We use more antihistamines a day than cocaine.
A survey posted on here only a few days ago said only 2 out 100 people in the country use 😂😂
I want to meet the people who can’t make it through a funeral without taking a bump, bloody hell!
Wanker drug
It’s crack.
There’s so much crack cocaine in Dublin, it’s like 100 times worse than the heroin epidemic in the 80s/90s but despite this social media is blaming *checks notes* foriegners.
Want to argue with me? Get a train at 5pm from Tara St, Townsend St entrance.
And any gobshite thinking they’re better cuse they only take the powder stuff: you’re propping up the market. Your money makes it possible. You’re just as fucking bad, you’re just lucky.
We’re literally known worldwide for the stereotype of addiction problems with alcohol, and the cost of it is spiralling wildly.
Who could possibly have foreseen that ireland wouldn’t be able to handle its psychoactives?
Does this mean Ireland is the highest?
Can someone explain to me how to read this graph? 😅
So, on one day (hour of a day) we had the most. The rest of the days (hours) we had none?
This graph is extremely confusing.
I’m a year clean and sober from many different drugs next month and coke is the only one I still have strong cravings for. It’s a soul destroying drug. Friends of mine from treatment have sold their every wordly possession, including kitchens and children’s toys, for a bag.
Let’s see the graph when Conor McGregor is out of country
29 comments
A ship loaded with cocaine swerves from a pursuing Irish naval vessel. Warning shots are fired. Finally, troops descend on deck from a helicopter in gale force winds.
The operation in 2023 was Ireland’s biggest and most spectacular drug bust. The nation is now one of the world’s most avid cocaine users, and its rugged coastline draws smugglers seeking access to the EU.
“In the last three years, we’ve had record cocaine seizures,” said Ruth Kennedy, a commissioner of the Irish revenue service with responsibility for customs.
With cocaine production in Latin America at a record high, the drug has become more widespread in a country that spawned one of Europe’s most notorious drug cartels, the Kinahan gang, whose boss, Daniel Kinahan is holed up in Dubai. Addiction rates have grown, with more people seeking treatment, according to Ireland’s state Health Research Board.
Joe Treacy, a specialist in addiction in County Galway on Ireland’s west coast, says the problem has never been worse in his three decades-long career.
“I’m seeing prolific use. It’s now second nature, almost part and parcel of social life,” he added. “Weddings, funerals, any occasion, it seems to be a prerequisite that cocaine is available. It’s all ages, from 16 to 90.”
The high seas interdiction of the MV Matthew culminated in the seizure of 2.2 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of €157mn.
Since the Matthew, more than 150 seizures totalling almost 1.5 tonnes had been made by early July, including a 440kg haul on July 1. “How many more do we not intercept?” asked Treacy.
Ireland ranks fourth globally for cocaine use behind Australia, Spain and the Netherlands, according to a 2023 UN report, on a par with the US and Austria, and ahead of the UK.
But the Irish data in that study is from 2019 — and evidence suggests its use has kept climbing since then.
The amount of cocaine seized so far this year is 10 times higher than in the whole of 2019. In the past seven years, the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine has risen 250 per cent, according to the HRB.
The Rutland Centre, one of Ireland’s main addiction facilities, reported a 35 per cent rise in cocaine use in 2024 — one of the sharpest single-year increases it has recorded for any drug.
Dublin is among Europe’s top cocaine-consuming cities, an analysis of wastewater by the European Union Drugs Agency found last year.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s consumption of alcohol has dropped 31 per cent over the past quarter-century. Almost a third of its people do not drink at all, according to the HRB.
Ireland itself, with 5.4mn people, is a very small market — but it offers a gateway into the UK and the EU. A further appeal for criminals may be that its navy has only eight ships, of which three can be put to sea at any one time. Just two customs ships are available to secure its almost 3,200-km coastline.
Column chart of Ireland cocaine seizures, mn euros showing Ireland seized a record €220mn of cocaine in 2023
Its remote beaches attract cartels seeking new routes for their surging cocaine supplies. Coca crops in Colombia drove global production to a record 3,708 tons in 2023, according to the UN, up 34 per cent from 2022.
“If you do land something in Ireland, then you’re into the European Union,” said Séamus Boland, head of the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, part of Ireland’s police force, An Garda Síochána.
“One of the biggest problems at the moment in Europe is at-sea drop-offs,” he added.
It was the method the MV Matthew had intended to use in 2023.
The Panamanian-registered vessel, which set sail from the Caribbean island of Curaçao off the coast of Venezuela, was the “mother ship”. It had planned to transfer its cargo to a fishing trawler bought in Ireland and paid for by a crime group.
The plans unravelled when the “daughter” ship due to pick up the cocaine at sea ran aground, leaving an increasingly panicked crew on the Matthew to liaise by voice message with “Captain Noah” — the gangster in Dubai overseeing the operation.
An Irish patrol ship, the LÉ WB Yeats, gave chase. “I have fired a warning shot. Do you understand?” radioed the naval commander, according to a video released by Irish police in early July.
“Irish warship, please don’t fire at us,” came the response. But it was too late and elite Rangers, Ireland’s special operations force, abseiled on to the ship as it was buffeted by a gale.
Officials have not indicated whom they suspect of being behind the cargo, but Angela Willis, assistant Garda commissioner for organised and serious crime, said it was “reasonable to assume the Kinahans” were involved.
Ireland has cracked down hard on organised crime and scored a coup against the Kinahans in May when Daniel Kinahan’s “closest confidant” was extradited to Dublin from the UAE — a move seen as preparing the way for his boss to make the same journey.
In early July, the eight sailors involved in the MV Matthew operation were jailed for a total of 129 years.
After the sentencing, detective superintendent Joe O’Reilly from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, said the message was clear: “Ireland is not a soft target.”
Treacy said cocaine was used by all types of people, from farmers to business people and he also saw a correlation with a sometimes “reckless” attitude to drinking. Despite the fall in overall consumption, binge drinking — defined as six drinks or more in a single session — is on the rise.
But the country’s struggle with drugs is far from over. “We’re at full employment, we have lots of money,” said Willis. “And people aren’t making the link between a line of cocaine and the murder and misery of organised crime groups.”
https://www.ft.com/content/036554b5-6f26-43fe-87f4-50b04967f6f7
Probably Irish and British driving that one outlier in Spain too
Who’s doing cocaine in this economy?!
Take that Denmark.
Cost of living crises me hole 😅😅😅
People who use cocaine are scum. They can tell themselves otherwise, but they’re junkies that feed criminals.
Horrible drug
Belgium is 100% all the folk at the European commission
I wonder if they did a “alcohol v cocaine” graph what would it look like.
I’d wager the top drinking cities are the top coke cities. Such is the world today.
Where is France in that list? Is their consumption so low that they weren’t even included?
Couple months ago in a tiny rural pub in a village of about 300 people i went into the women’s bathroom to find 5 girls in their 20’s sniffing it off of the sinks. That’s when it hit home for me that cocaine addiction will soon be a serious issue. Then I hear news that someone I went to school with has been stealing money – why? He was always a lovely lad, must be a rumour gone astray… nope, drug debt.
My cousin was blatantly on cocaine at my brother’s funeral. Yeah, I’m not sure I’ll ever fully forgive or forget that.
No guards in rural ireland means drug dealers have a clean run to sell cocaine 24/7 , most towns in county Limerick are controlled by drug gangs
It’s such a sad reality, don’t get me wrong, did it on occasion back in the day if somebody offered, but now it seems like every pub you walk into people are just doing it casually.
Don’t get me wrong, if you do it occasionally, while not ideal, I get it, but going to pubs now it’s the same faces at the same bar coming up chatting to you and the only concern they have is another line.
What has happened?
You’ll never beat the irish
Every Jacks in Dublin is a Henry Hoover factory so it’s no surprise.
I smell like Joop.
Seen it at my nephews communion. My friends wedding. My friends dad’s funeral. It’s everywhere
**How many people use cocaine in Ireland?**
According to the Healthy Ireland survey, in 2022/23:
– 8% of respondents report lifetime cocaine use. 2% report last year cocaine use, with 1% of
the population reporting last month cocaine use.
– Men (3%) are more likely than women (1%) to report last year cocaine use.
– Cocaine use in the last year is most common among those aged 15-34, see Table 1.
– Men aged 25-34 (8%) have the highest prevalence of last year cocaine use, compared to 2% of women in the same age group.
– Last month cocaine use is most common among those aged 15-24 and 25-34 inclusive (1%).
https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/17308/1/2025_June_NDL_Cocaine_factsheet.pdf
Cocaine use isn’t as widespread as people portray. It only seems like it’s everywhere because you’re going to places where it’s used.
People are reading more from the chart than it actually says. Relatively, we’re using more than others but the amount we’re using based on that chart is estimated as 1g per 1,000 people per day. We use more antihistamines a day than cocaine.
A survey posted on here only a few days ago said only 2 out 100 people in the country use 😂😂
I want to meet the people who can’t make it through a funeral without taking a bump, bloody hell!
Wanker drug
It’s crack.
There’s so much crack cocaine in Dublin, it’s like 100 times worse than the heroin epidemic in the 80s/90s but despite this social media is blaming *checks notes* foriegners.
Want to argue with me? Get a train at 5pm from Tara St, Townsend St entrance.
And any gobshite thinking they’re better cuse they only take the powder stuff: you’re propping up the market. Your money makes it possible. You’re just as fucking bad, you’re just lucky.
We’re literally known worldwide for the stereotype of addiction problems with alcohol, and the cost of it is spiralling wildly.
Who could possibly have foreseen that ireland wouldn’t be able to handle its psychoactives?
Does this mean Ireland is the highest?
Can someone explain to me how to read this graph? 😅
So, on one day (hour of a day) we had the most. The rest of the days (hours) we had none?
This graph is extremely confusing.
I’m a year clean and sober from many different drugs next month and coke is the only one I still have strong cravings for. It’s a soul destroying drug. Friends of mine from treatment have sold their every wordly possession, including kitchens and children’s toys, for a bag.
Let’s see the graph when Conor McGregor is out of country
Comments are closed.