As three English criminals face up to the prospect of spending the rest of their adult days in Irish prison, there has been much congratulation and back slapping here regarding the way the case has been conducted.

There is no doubt that in terms of investigation, prosecution and sentencing the Irish authorities have done a good job and achieved the right outcome. The elephant in the room here, however, is that this whole operation is the result of pure luck.

If the correct fuel was put into that rib a year ago, this gang would never have been caught. The expert analysis of the evidence required to convict these men was all done after the event. In truth, the authorities hadn't a clue what was coming until it popped up in Dunlough Bay without a paddle.

The real question the media should be asking now is just how many billion euro drug shipments do make it ashore? There is no problem with the supply of drugs in this country. Anyone who wants them can get them whenever they want. That would suggest that supply lines to the Irish market are open and largely uninterrupted.

Given Ireland's very extensive coastline, and in particular the vast number of inaccessible rocky bays and coves up and down our west coast, we make an excellent importation port for drugs destined for Europe.

This coastline is not patrolled to anything like the extent it would need to be to prevent the large scale importation of drugs. What happened at Dunlough Bay last year wasn't as unusual as some people would have you believe, it just happened that on that particular occasion we got lucky.

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