This article is from page 3 of the 2008-04-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
A CLARE County Councillor has called for measures to be put in place to ensure that the taxpayer will not have to pay for security operations at Shannon Airport when expected dig- nitaries do not arrive.
The Green Party’s Brian Meaney wants to know who will pay for the security operation at Shannon last weekend when US President George W Bush was expected on a refuelling stop, and how much was spent.
“This is the second time Mr Bush has failed to land here, despite costly security operations being undertak- en. I appreciate there is a reciprocal protocol between states to provide security for visiting dignitaries but where that dignitary does not turn up, their government should pay the bill, not the Irish taxpayer,” he said.
Air Force One was expected to land at Shannon at 4pm on Sunday but the Presidential jet overflew Shannon while a second support aircraft, Air Force 2, believed to have been carry-
ing senior US officials, made a tech- nical stop at the airport.
Security around the airport was tight from early morning with over 200 personnel from the Garda and Defence Forces drafted in, although it had never been confirmed to gardai or Shannon authorities that Mr Bush would definitely land. He was re- turning to Washington from a NATO summit in Bucharest and a visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s holiday retreat on the Black Sea.
The operation involved the US Se-
cret Service, Gardai, Army and Aer Corps. Gardai were posted at loca- tions around the airport while all access roads to the aerodrome were closely monitored by mobile patrols. Checkpoints were also mounted while an Aer Corps helicopter car- ried out aerial surveillance.
A team of garda motorcycle outrid- ers from Dublin Castle was sent to Shannon in case the President had to be taken from the airport for any rea- son. A mini-cavalcade, comprising one of the President’s official cars as
well as personnel carriers for Secret Service agents, was also on standby.
The security operation was wound down shortly after 3pm following confirmation that Air Force One would not be landing at Shannon. It is estimated that the deployment could have cost as much as €250,000.
On May 10, 2005, a security op- eration was mounted in anticipation of a similar stop by the President. However, that was cancelled just two hours before his plane was due to touch down.