Call for funds to prevent EU presidency protest violence

IRELAND’S presidency of the EU next year will be marred by violence if the gardaí are not given more money and if management doesn’t plan for the expected protests, a top garda representative said yesterday.

George Maybury of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) said the garda overtime budget would run out in October, leaving the force with no money to prepare for the presidency.

The AGSI general secretary said gardaí would be facing thousands of demonstrators, some of whom would be determined to cause a confrontation with gardaí similar to that at the EU Summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2001.