Security risk at sporting festivals: Prepare to defeat the terrorists

THE challenge faced by gardaí trying to bring Dublin’s murderous gang war under control pales into insignificance compared to the daunting task facing French and European police preparing for the European football championships which begin in 15 days. 

Brazilian security agencies, and their counterparts at airports all around the world, may face an even greater challenge when this summer’s Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro in just over 70 days.

These great celebrations of sport and humanity offer terrorists of all hues the kind of stage, and the prospect of universal publicity, they crave. That the great ideas of inclusion and co-operative internationalism, so hated by Islamist bigots, characterise these events is another reason to anticipate another attack from beyond the fringes of reason. The threat of an outrage at either festival is very real and every measure possible will be taken to prevent one.