The labrador was one of two detection dogs recruited last week in a bid to stop drugs being smuggled into the country's prisons.

Pepper and Rocky, a crossbreed springer/collie, are now being rotated across the prison network and sniffed out nine potential drug smugglers in their first two days.

Another 30 dogs will join them over the next number of years and it is hoped that at least two dogs will be permanently assigned to each of the state's 14 prisons.

The dogs went through months of intensive training in the UK and the main focus of their work is identifying visitors who attempt to pass drugs on to inmates.

Before their introduction drugs were being passed to prisoners by kissing and even using babies' nappies.

Each dog has a dedicated handler and they patrol the visiting area in a bid to identify suspicious persons. The canines can also be brought to jail cells and it is envisaged that regular searches of prisoners will take place using the detection dogs.

The two new additions were in the Midlands Prison last week and gave nine positive indications that visitors were carrying drugs.

People are checked by the dogs before they get to see inmates and most of the nine who were sniffed turned and left the prison without attempting to see prisoners.

When the dogs detect drugs the visitor is refused permission to see an inmate and is instead offered a screened visit which takes place without any physical contact. If drugs are physically found on a visitor, gardai are called in to investigate.

A spokesperson for the Prison Service said "visitors were observed to turn away when they saw that the dog was on duty while several visitors commented that they are happy to see the dogs present as they allow them to resist pressure to deliver drugs".

A third detection dog will be introduced over the next few weeks.