Ireland

Sailors and fishermen expected to apply for Revenue maritime officer jobs targeting organised crime

Roles come as new vessel due to come into service, enabling officers to target drug smuggling and organised crime

Those hired as Revenue maritime officers will undergo intensive training. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni
Those hired as Revenue maritime officers will undergo intensive training. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni
Olivia Kelleher
Wed Oct 30 2024 - 17:47

Former sailors and fishermen are among those expected to apply for up to a “dozen plus” Revenue maritime officer jobs, with the work primarily involving patrol duties on board customs cutters.

The Maritime Unit, based in Cork, currently operates two such vessels. Last year a contract was signed for the delivery of a new cutter to replace the RCC Suirbheir, which has been in service since 2004.

The new vessel, which is due to come into service in 2025, will be equipped with advanced navigational and surveillance systems. This will further enable officers to target smuggling of drugs and cigarettes and organised crime in Irish maritime domains.

Andrew Ryan, Revenue’s maritime operations manager, said: “A lot of our work goes under the radar and that’s because we do a lot of our work in the background.

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As part of a recruitment drive for maritime officers for patrol duties on board Revenue Customs Cutters, the RCC Suirbhéir was displayed to the press on the Cork quays. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni
As part of a recruitment drive for maritime officers for patrol duties on board Revenue Customs Cutters, the RCC Suirbhéir was displayed to the press on the Cork quays. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni

“We do our intelligence gathering without disclosing what we are doing and how we are doing it. So a lot of the work we do won’t make the headlines.”

He said of the roles: “You could be doing patrol at sea. It could be joining the joint taskforce involved in a maritime operation which requires air surveillance.

“We deploy the teams wherever the need is. It is normally eight days on but if something breaks or there is a large operation we have to call back extra officers.

Mr Ryan said that the crew perform, in effect, as mariners and active participants in a wide range of enforcement activities including patrol, surveillance and anti-smuggling/evasion work.

Intensive training is carried out at the National Maritime College of Ireland in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork and at the Regional Fisheries Centre in Castletownbere in Cork and Greencastle in Donegal.

“Some of those courses will involve sea survival and helicopter underwater escape training because we also conduct helicopter operations with our colleagues in the Air Corps for anti-smuggling.

We have a wide age profile and we obviously recruit both male and female officers, so we generally tend to have all blends of experience.”

Maritime officers work closely with gardaí and the Defence Forces, as well as international law enforcement partners.

“Often, a lot of our teams spend more time with their crews than they do with their families. The crews are required to work together in such a tight and confined space that they form very close bonds,” he said.