Mental amount of gardai outside greenhills

stefanovich

Just passed a few minutes ago. Loads of gardai and what look like private security plus quite a lot of people. Quick Google revealed the taoiseach is in town. Didn't see any protesters at the hotel but saw a small group in the Tesco car park. Probably getting psyched up.

Hate to link to the sunday world but it's the only newspaper with any significant info.

Insect Overlord

The Limerick Post had something about it on their website as well. Found a link via Twitter this afternoon.

Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Iranoutofideas

Word leaked on Facebook that Enda was attending a Fine Gael dinner there tonight. Water protesters arranged a meetup.

touts

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

Word leaked on Facebook that Enda was attending a Fine Gael dinner there tonight. Water protesters arranged a meetup.

Did Fine Gael pay for the extra Garda presence required at their meeting?

bren2002

touts wrote: »

Did Fine Gael pay for the extra Garda presence required at their meeting?

Why should they?

Special Circumstances

bren2002 wrote: »

Why should they?

They don't fall out of the sky you know...

Naw, I agree with you - where organizations organise events that generate profit but need garda presence then it should be paid for.

But Taoisigh should be able to avail of gardai for as long as they are in office even if they are scoring OGs at every opportunity.

touts

bren2002 wrote: »

Why should they?

They held an event that they must have known would cause a public disturbance. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the protesters surely Fine Gael should have the cop on to keep their heads low for a couple of weeks. The attitude of its our public right to hold an event even if we know it will cause trouble is very similar to the Unionist attitude of it's our right to march down this public road.

And even if you say they have a right to hold an event even if it needs extra policing imagine if someone held a concert in an event that needed extra policing because of the unsavory elements it might attract. It may not be the band or the promoter causing the trouble but they still pay for the extra policing.

Personally I am opposed to the actions of the protesters and have no time for their ring leaders like Murphy, Ogle and Coppinger. But Fine Gael were stupid to hold a fundraising dinner at this time. It had the potential to cause a public nuisance and they should have known that. If they wanted to push ahead and make a political point the taxpayer shouldn't be picking up the tab for that political point.

Cookiemunster

touts wrote: »

They held an event that they must have known would cause a public disturbance. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the protesters surely Fine Gael should have the cop on to keep their heads low for a couple of weeks. The attitude of its our public right to hold an event even if we know it will cause trouble is very similar to the Unionist attitude of it's our right to march down this public road.

And even if you say they have a right to hold an event even if it needs extra policing imagine if someone held a concert in an event that needed extra policing because of the unsavory elements it might attract. It may not be the band or the promoter causing the trouble but they still pay for the extra policing.

Personally I am opposed to the actions of the protesters and have no time for their ring leaders like Murphy, Ogle and Coppinger. But Fine Gael were stupid to hold a fundraising dinner at this time. It had the potential to cause a public nuisance and they should have known that. If they wanted to push ahead and make a political point the taxpayer shouldn't be picking up the tab for that political point.

I highly doubt they just decided to hold the dinner at short notice. It will have been planned for months. If Fine Gael had held the dinner, but the Taoiseach didn't attend there would probably be no crowd. A decision was made to add extra protection for the Taoiseach and any senior ministers after the Joan Bruton incident last week. That's why the guards were there, to protect the Taoiseach not to protect the fundraising dinner.

Kenny B

I saw a van load of Gardaí heading away early from it, so the expected crowd never fully materialised.

Hopefully one of the Guards was doling out parking fines to the morons who parked on the grass verges in the nearby areas, it was cut up in places this morning. The lovely protestors couldn't be arsed to park and walk from Tesco, just dumped the cars anywhere.

Valetta

touts wrote: »

They held an event that they must have known would cause a public disturbance. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the protesters surely Fine Gael should have the cop on to keep their heads low for a couple of weeks. The attitude of its our public right to hold an event even if we know it will cause trouble is very similar to the Unionist attitude of it's our right to march down this public road.

And even if you say they have a right to hold an event even if it needs extra policing imagine if someone held a concert in an event that needed extra policing because of the unsavory elements it might attract. It may not be the band or the promoter causing the trouble but they still pay for the extra policing.

Personally I am opposed to the actions of the protesters and have no time for their ring leaders like Murphy, Ogle and Coppinger. But Fine Gael were stupid to hold a fundraising dinner at this time. It had the potential to cause a public nuisance and they should have known that. If they wanted to push ahead and make a political point the taxpayer shouldn't be picking up the tab for that political point.

The event itself doesn't cause the trouble.

The trouble-makers do, and they need policing.

If anything, the protesters should be made pay for the extra Gardaí.

his_dudeness

touts wrote: »

If they wanted to push ahead and make a political point the taxpayer shouldn't be picking up the tab for that political point.

Given that the protest was a "political point", shouldn't the protestors have to pay some of the tab too?

touts

his_dudeness wrote: »

Given that the protest was a "political point", shouldn't the protestors have to pay some of the tab too?

I would agree. But that doesn't get around the fact that Fine Gael pushed ahead with an event they knew would cause trouble and while they are entitled to do so the taxpayer shouldn't pick up the tab especially for an event that was about fundraising for the party.

touts

Valetta wrote: »

The event itself doesn't cause the trouble.

The trouble-makers do, and they need policing.

If anything, the protesters should be made pay for the extra Gardaí.

The same could be said about a concert. The band and the promoter doesn't cause the problem so maybe we should just divide up the cost of policing between those arrested for causing trouble at the event. Morally that might be the right thing to do but in reality the onus should be on the organisers not to hold an event that is likely to require the taxpayer to fund the cost of extra security etc. If they do then they should foot the bill out of the money raised at the event. The same applies to this Fine Gael fundraising dinner. Some might argue that this was a government/state event but Fine Gael are not the government or the state. They are a political party and therefore they are a separate entity seeking to hold an event for profit. Therefore they are the same as someone organizing a concert or such and the cost of security at their event should come from the income on the night.

falan

great craic last night even though enda gave us the slip with a decoy..The guards were even laughing at our version of jingle bells. The only aggression last night came from a Td who threatened a 10 year old child. .big man. There was around 300 gathered at short notice.

Valetta

touts wrote: »

The same could be said about a concert. The band and the promoter doesn't cause the problem so maybe we should just divide up the cost of policing between those arrested for causing trouble at the event. Morally that might be the right thing to do but in reality the onus should be on the organisers not to hold an event that is likely to require the taxpayer to fund the cost of extra security etc. If they do then they should foot the bill out of the money raised at the event. The same applies to this Fine Gael fundraising dinner. Some might argue that this was a government/state event but Fine Gael are not the government or the state. They are a political party and therefore they are a separate entity seeking to hold an event for profit. Therefore they are the same as someone organizing a concert or such and the cost of security at their event should come from the income on the night.

Event organisers and event holders pay taxes and are entitled to expect to hold that event.

Any trouble that occurs is caused only by the troublemakers.

Event organisers do have to pay for additional Gardaí who are deployed inside the event, and rightly so.

Anything outside is in a public place, and normal policing procedures apply.

his_dudeness

touts wrote: »

....especially for an event that was about fundraising for the party.

From what I heard from someone who was at the meeting, it wasn't a fundraising meeting. Rather a private meeting of the Limerick branch of FG regarding planning for the next election.

celticcrash

I was at the protest. Kenny the leader of the country hid in a Garda van coming in. And hid in another van for his exit. The spineless coward that he is. Have to say the people of Limerick done us proud in our peaceful protest. Fine Gael on the other hand were aggressive, as they passed in they threw insults to the people. Myself I heard, I pay for your unemployment benefit, get a job, **** yourselves and a few two finger salutes, thats the nice ones that were thrown. One of these Fine Gael gentlemen shouted at a 12 year old girl go away with your big mouth. Fine Gael were trying their best to provoke violence as they passed through the people. Proud of the Limerick people for not reacting to their insults.
You could see the contempt on the faces of other Fine Gael members
as they passed. We could have done with more people as the expected crowd never turned up but than again not a lot of people heard Kenny was going to be there. If we let other people fight this cause, we are going to lose.
We need the backing of the people to win this and we will win.
Kenny came out with a statement today saying that Sinn Fein were their causing trouble. I did not see any Sinn Fein members there. And also no Sinn Fein flags.
No they were not.

falan

celticcrash wrote: »

I was at the protest. Kenny the leader of the country hid in a Garda van coming in. And hid in another van for his exit. The spineless coward that he is. Have to say the people of Limerick done us proud in our peaceful protest. Fine Gael on the other hand were aggressive, as they passed in they threw insults to the people. Myself I heard, I pay for your unemployment benefit, get a job, **** yourselves and a few two finger salutes, thats the nice ones that were thrown. One of these Fine Gael gentlemen shouted at a 12 year old girl go away with your big mouth. Fine Gael were trying their best to provoke violence as they passed through the people. Proud of the Limerick people for not reacting to their insults.
You could see the contempt on the faces of other Fine Gael members
as they passed. We could have done with more people as the expected crowd never turned up but than again not a lot of people heard Kenny was going to be there. If we let other people fight this cause, we are going to lose.
We need the backing of the people to win this and we will win.
Kenny came out with a statement today saying that Sinn Fein were their causing trouble. I did not see any Sinn Fein members there. And also no Sinn Fein flags.
No they were not.

I was there too, representing myself. I have no political allegiance to anybody It was absolutely disgraceful behavior from FG and their supporters. So proud that people didn't react. I also didn't see any shinners there causing trouble and waving flags. Pure propaganda. Another divide and conquer strategy.
I said earlier that i thought the girl in question was 10 but it has since emerged that she was in fact 11...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93188965&postcount=3407

celticcrash

Also some FG members came out of the Greenhills and were clearly not sober.
Not one of the Gardi stopped these people from getting in the cars and driving their vehicles while under the influence.

I have to say the craic was great, all thanks to the good people of Limerick.

falan

They are scum and yet try to say we are. They are looking for a reaction and the media would be all over it...I can't wait till Saturday 2 pm at city hall..

source

Just a clarification on the number of Gardai and the who pays for them.

For events like concerts and matches, there has to be a certain number of Gardai for every 1000 attendees. This is why the organisation running the event pay the Garda overtime bill.

For protests the Gardai are paid for by the state. Whether they are working their normal shift or on overtime.