CUSTOMS CHECKS declined at almost all of the Republic’s main airports last year, with some airports seeing a drop of more than 70 per cent in the number of arriving passengers checked for drugs and other contraband.
New figures from the Department of Finance, which funds Revenue’s Customs Service, reveal 619,964 fewer Customs checks were carried out last year at the State’s 10 main airports, a drop of 13 per cent on 2008.
At Dublin airport the number of checks fell by 493,167, or 11 per cent, with passenger numbers down 13 per cent.
At Cork airport, the Republic’s second busiest airport, the decline was much more pronounced, down by 68,100 checks or 21 per cent. At Shannon, the third busiest in the Republic, Customs checks fell by 40 per cent, from 143,089 checks in 2008 to 86,400 last year.
Fine Gael said the decreases were “staggering in the context of our ongoing drugs problem” and “gave organised criminals a huge boost”.
The party’s spokesman on justice, Charlie Flanagan TD, said declining Customs activity could not be “explained away” by reduced passenger numbers. “While there may be a reduction in tourists and other airline passengers, drug and cigarette smuggling remains a huge problem.”
He added: “We’ve already witnessed five bloody gangland killings this month, with drugs at the root of all of them.”
The figures on Customs checks were released to Mr Flanagan in Dáil questions.
Customs searches fell by 50 per cent at Weston Airport, Leixlip, Co Kildare, last year. Mr Flanagan said he was concerned at this because Co Meath drug dealer John Kinsella had recently been jailed for trying to import drugs valued at €7 million from Belgium to Ireland on a jet via Weston.
In response to queries from The Irish Times, Revenue said in a statement: "The volume of trade and numbers of passengers were down in 2009 and this would primarily explain the decreases ." Most checks were done on the basis of risk-profiling, and "increasing the level of checking would not necessarily improve detection".
It said the number of frontline Customs staff had been maintained.
At Cork, where checks declined by 21 per cent, passenger numbers were down 15 per cent. At Galway airport checks were down by 27 per cent, with passenger numbers down 15 per cent.
At Shannon checks were down by 40 per cent. A spokeswoman said a figure for the decline in passenger numbers in 2009 was not yet available. However, it is expected to be far lower than 40 per cent.
Donegal airport saw checks fall by 15 per cent, with passenger numbers down 20 per cent.
At Waterford airport checks were down 73 per cent last year and at Kerry airport were down 33 per cent.
Only two airports, Knock and Sligo, witnessed an increase in passenger checks last year, with increases of 40 per cent and 80 per cent respectively, albeit from low figures in 2008.