A court has ordered that the State can dispose a cargo ship alleged to have been used in one of the largest drugs' hauls in Irish history.
The State has been paying €100,000 every week to maintain the MV Matthew since it was seized in dramatic fashion when the specialist wing of the Irish Defence Forces, the Army Rangers, stormed it in September 2023.
Working with customs agents, they seized 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth an estimated €157 million.
Eight men are due to go on trial next year at the Special Criminal Court charged in relation to the haul.
John Berry, a solicitor for the State, previously told the court that the ship was formally forfeit to the State on 19 November last year.
The State had maintained the ship to allow access for the defence legal teams.
The care and maintenance of the alleged drug trafficking ship cost the State €5.3 million to maintain between 26 September 2023 and October 2024.
At the hearing, Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo ordered that the State is no longer obliged to make the ship available for inspection.
The judge put a stay of two weeks on the order but has allowed the State to "put into train" the process of disposal immediately.
Read more: Curaçao to Cork: What we know about MV Matthew's journey
Maintenance of seized drug ship cost State €5.3m
None of the defence teams objected to the order, but they will have an opportunity to raise any issues when the matter is mentioned before the court again next Monday.
Mr Berry said the process of disposal is likely to take more than a month.
