In Cork city the drugs trade, mainly cannabis, is controlled by four families well known to the authorities.
The arrival of the Criminal Assets Bureau has given gardai new tools to use against the known "drug barons", and there have been a number of successes in recent years, resulting in seizures and convictions. However, the main players in the Cork drug scene are still at large and have managed so far to avoid arrest or conviction.
According to Garda sources, inquiries under the CAB legislation may soon lead to convictions.
A much more worrying trend is the use of the south-west coastline as an easy drop-off point for hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. The distance between Kinsale in Co Cork and Dingle in Co Kerry is not very great as the crow flies, but when all the crags and inlets are taken into account, it is in the order of 500 miles.
This is well known to international drug-runners, who understand only too well that resources in this State are hopelessly insufficient, in terms of patrol ships and manpower, to police the coastline adequately. Since 1993 there has been a spate of major drug seizures along the south-west coast, but Naval Service, customs and Garda sources all say that not much more than an estimated 30 per cent of all the drugs coming ashore is being seized.
Garda sources say that the Cork-Kerry coastline is an obvious choice for drug-runners, given that it can be reached in a straight line from north Africa, and that it is so close to Europe and Britain.
Regularly British, Dutch and African nationals have been arrested when drug-running vessels have been seized.