Security push for EU meeting

A MAJOR security operation got underway in Killarney, Co Kerry, this weekend for a meeting of EU agriculture ministers.

Extra gardaí are being drafted into the area for what will be the first full ministerial meeting of the 25 members of the enlarged EU. Between ministers and officials up to 200 people will be at the meeting in the five-star Hotel Europe, on the shores of picture postcard Lough Lein.

Eight years ago, hundreds of protesting farmers, who came from many parts of the country, broke through a garda cordon and ran down the driveway to Hotel Europe where the ministers were meeting.