Frustration is growing among residents in Passage West, Co. Cork, who say they are tired of living beside the MV Matthew; the massive cargo ship at the centre of Ireland’s largest-ever cocaine seizure.
The notorious vessel, currently docked in Cork Harbour, is costing the State an estimated €100,000 per week to store and maintain. Over a year since its dramatic seizure by authorities, locals say there’s no sign it will be moved any time soon, despite several individuals now before the courts in connection with the case.
According to The Irish Mirror, residents have raised concerns about the ship being a constant source of disturbance, with some describing “weird sounds and noise” coming from the vessel late at night. One local even told the paper that some believe the ship is haunted, though he personally dismissed the claim.
“They have to keep the power on 24/7 to keep it afloat, otherwise God knows what might happen,” he said. “But it makes all sorts of funny noises, especially at night, and people say they can’t sleep with the racket. This ship is an eyesore in our harbour and trust me, we are fed up looking at it every day. The sooner it is gone, the better.”
Last year, Cork Beo reported that a number of formal noise complaints had been lodged over loud generators running on the MV Matthew. The ship is occasionally moved around 700 metres within the harbour to make way for other large vessels accessing deep water berths at Passage West and Marino Point.
Despite hopes that the vessel would be removed by summer, no clear timeline has been given for its departure.
Cork Sinn Fein Councillor, Eoghan Fahey, spoke to Ireland's Classic Hits Radio News today. He said that although clearance has been given by the Courts, nothing has happened to date:
"It's extremely disappointing that the people Passage West have been left to deal with this issue of the MV Matthew for approaching two years now.
It's even more disappointing that revenue are still issuing the same response today as
it had been for the last year.
The Courts sanctioned are disposable of the MV Matthew earlier this year, yet the people still have no end in sight.
I believe that revenue need to be a lot clearer on the steps that they have taken to date and
the steps that they intended to take in the coming weeks and months to dispose of the MV Matthew correctly."
He went on to criticise Revenues responses to queries relating to the ships disposal:
"The fact that they continuously deal with the issue, with what I believe be a very automated and robotic responses.
At the end of the day, they are not the ones living with continuous noise and an eyesore.
And outside of the issue of the noise and the eyesore, you have to think that it's costing, at
this stage, €100,000 a week to maintain the vessel. They have to be clear about what they're going to do and give us a timeframe and not just keep issuing the same response, the people of Passage West need direct and clear answers."
