Ex-Army man slams tank deployment

A peace activist and former Irish army officer has slammed the deployment of Scorpion tanks in Co Clare as part of the security for the visit of US President George W Bush.

Edward Horgan, who commanded a tank squadron during his military service said the Scorpion was unsuitable for use in riot situations and the Minister for Defence should be sacked for deploying the vehicles.

“Those tanks are completely inappropriate for crowd control. They can only kill people,” he said.

“They have only been used once for crowd control in the world, I believe, and that was in Indonesia, where they killed hundreds of people in the province of Aceh.

"For the Irish Government to deploy the Scorpion tanks at Shannon Airport against people like me is an atrocious decision and I would call for the resignation or even the sacking of the Minister for Defence for doing so.”