The Customs Service is to acquire a new patrol boat to help in its fight drug smuggling off the coast of Ireland.
The 21-meter long Cutter patrol boat, which will be based in Cork, is expected to be in action within 14 months.
The purchase of the boat is in response to a report published by the Customs National Drugs Team (CNDT) in 2000 which identified the need for more vessels to conduct surveillance, monitor and intercept vessels suspected of drug smuggling along Ireland's 2800 kilometers of coast-line.
The report drew on extensive evidence showing that Ireland increased use as a transit route for smuggling drugs into the EU from Africa, the Caribbean and South America.
The contract to build the vessel, worth €1.6 million has been awarded to a Finnish company Tyovene OY.
The new cutter is intended to improve the work done by the Navy in policing the area of drug smuggling and will also participate in a number of drug-targeted Joint Customs Operations mounted each year by the Customs Services of the EU.