Dromoland becomes fortress for Bush visit

HI-TECH surveillance units, each costing €400,000, and designed to detect human footfalls at a range of 43km, will be deployed for the visit of US President George W Bush.

Naval vessels, decontamination units and bomb disposal units will also be in place for Friday’s presidential visit to Co Clare.

More than 2,000 troops will be on duty, most them on the wide perimeter surrounding Dromoland Castle.

But while the ground will be saturated with security, there will be little defensive air cover.

Lt Gen Jim Sreenan, chief of the Defence Forces, said he had not been in contact with any neighbouring air forces to cover threats from the air. The Department of Foreign Affairs said there is a blanket ban on armed aircraft operating in Irish airspace and that position has not changed.

The visit of Mr Bush and the possibility of an attack has brought into sharp focus what one opposition politician has described as the “inadequacy of the State’s ability to defend itself against terrorist attack”.

Fine Gael’s defence spokesman Dinny McGinley, who attacked the Government for cutting defence spending by €8 million year on year to 2003, said: “Any country that professes to be neutral, as Ireland does, should have the capacity to defend that neutrality.”

The annual report revealed that the Defence Forces gave back €20m to the Exchequer last year after spending significantly less than expected.

Total spend for the year was €703m, down €8m on the previous year. The spend represents 2.28% of the total Government budget, down from nearly 5% just over 10 years ago.

Investment is continuing to be made in nuclear, biological and chemical equipment.