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IT IS GOING to be a cruel summer for members of An Garda Siochána in Dublin: leave for gardaí has been cancelled for the final days of June due to the Taylor Swift concerts.
Taylor Swift arrives into Dublin to play the Aviva Stadium on 28, 29, and 30 June. It would usually be a case of no body no crime* but in this instance Taylor and her following of Swifties have led garda management to declare the three days as an ‘extraordinary event’.
When this happens, gardaí can be stopped from taking leave and special measures are implemented to ensure that there are enough gardaí to police the city.
Many of those fans are going to stay out too late, go on too many dates, that’s what people say, so An Garda Síochána management has directed the move on one of the nights, 29 June, to implement the measure.
Commissioner Drew Harris is making sure there will be no teardrops left on Taylor Swift’s guitar.
The move is not without its bad blood and anti-heroes, however. The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has raised an issue about the need for the declaration.
They said, in a missive to members today, that they are normally contacted when the extraordinary event status is enacted in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.
In a statement to The Journal AGSI also said that they had identified deficiencies in the antiquated rates for Subsistence and Travel Allowance
The group said it is becoming increasingly difficult to police major national and international events due to ongoing resourcing issues.
AGSI also noted that the latest declaration of an extraordinary policing event is in contravention of some of the principles of the Working Time Directive which An Garda Siochana and all representative associations have signed up to.
AGSI Acting General Secretary, Ronan Clogher said: “AGSI has sought to reconvene a meeting of the Midlands Working Time Agreement forum to address the consistent and recurring problems that our membership has experienced in recent times surrounding the processes to be utilised as the result of the declaration of an extraordinary event and other issues.
“In a departure from normal practice, the National Executive received no prior notification or consultation from Garda Management regarding the declaration of the 29th of June 2024 as an extraordinary event in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.
“Subsequently we were contacted by our membership of Sergeant and Inspector rank regarding the lack of sufficient notice and clarity surrounding this extraordinary event.”
AGSI say ongoing challenges of resourcing constraints means it is becoming necessary for Garda Management to have to declare additional extraordinary events to provide a policing service.
This problem, say AGSI, is further exacerbated by long standing issues around subsistence and travel allowances which are currently before the Workplace Relations Commission.
The current rates of Subsistence and Travel are at 2002 levels having last been adjusted in 2009 with a 25% reduction due to the financial emergency.
These rates have remained static since 2009 and are completely unrealistic considering the current cost of living.
A garda spokesperson said: “An extraordinary event is in place because of the high volume of events happening in Dublin city and environs across a number of days.”
As well as Taylor Swift, the spokesperson noted a number of other concerts, festivals and sports events taking place across the weekend, including Pride, All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, Longitude, Flavours of Fingal, and concerts by The Saw Doctors and Villagers.
*The Journal’s news team provided additional reporting to come up with all the references and puns in this article. You’re welcome/we’re sorry.
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Is anyone surprised?
According to a very stable genius if nobody gets tested there won’t be any coronavirus.
@Dave Thomas: bit like Monaghan during Covid 19 then. No testing = no cases.
@Dermot Foley: *the start of Covid
@Dave Thomas: He wants to bolster his second amendment supporters to take care of his first constitution problems.
Wiping out his fan base could be a good thing
@Cupid Stunt:
And this probably represents what is now conventional thinking for Democrats.
Let’s forget about selecting an electable candidate and policies that might resonate with the voters.
Let’s not worry about trying to persuade the non aligned or anti Trump Republicans to actually vote Democrat in November.
No, let’s just “wipe out his fan base”, a euphemism for killing the 63 million people who voted for President Trump in 2016, and then we’ll win.
Not that such an idea will get any pushback from the moderators here.
Good stuff Donald, thin the herd.
A bit like Micheal Martin
@Paul Dolan: If you want to see petulant then Supermac, throwing her toys out of the pram at not being in government, would be a better example than Martin.
@Justin Gillespie: The Martin/Trump comparison isn’ta bad one, considering Martin has lied to and deceived the very people that voted for him during the election. All so that he can cling on to a life long obsession of being taoiseach and doing so at any cost, despite a large contingent of his own party not fully supporting him.
He’s like a petulant child.
@Mel Fitzpatrick: Yes but he has more weapons of mass destruction at his fingertips than most other countries combined.
@Bramley Hawthorne: I’m not gonna dispute that but he’s still a petulant child.
He truly is one very sick psycho. His re-election is all that matters to him.
Apparently to be able to attend trumps rallys ,one has to sign a waiver stating” if you contact covid you will not sue “..
@Milkman Man: there’s no apparently about it. That’s 100% true. It’s part of the application process.
A Great President one who speaks his mind and keeps his promises
@WreckDefier: presiding over one of the few countries where covid cases are continuing to rise. A conservative estimate puts the probable death toll in the US at 200,000 before the end of this year.
@WreckDefier: How’d that Wall work out?
@WreckDefier: “This account doesn’t exist”
@WreckDefier: Oh yeah , he is brilliant NOT !
@WreckDefier: Just as Cameron did when ushering in Brexit. Regardless of the best interests of the people of his country. This push to entertain his voters is Philadelphia 1918 all over again.
I think he’s well aware of the possibility of spread. But I think he figures those cases will be so dispersed around the US that he won’t be held responsible. Very hard to prove it came from the rally itself too so he has a built-in defense.
So he probably doesn’t care if ppl get it, more whether the blame will land at his door.
@Kevin O’Donnell: unless during contact tracing the patients tell the truth then it’ll be pretty clear.
@Dave O’Keeffe: I don’t think they have contact tracing, do they? The survivors may be able to testify, but won’t they be in the minority?
It would seem that his policy now is not to speak of the virus and it may go away!
He rejects concerns….yet if you are going to his rally you can’t sue for contracting COVID-19 if you do get it !!
What a brat.
1million people requested tickets for a city of roughly 500,000 people? Gotta love the numbers. The fact that Trump won’t wear a face mask might come back to haunt him. Ah not to worry HE is winning the fight against the virus!
The Dems think it’s perfectly Ok to have demonstrations and riots throughout America and Trump wants to hold mass rallies with an eye on November.
Our lot may not be up to much but they don’t look so bad by comparison.
@Will: pretty sure no democrat has said riots are OK and they have also advised anybody protesting to do so peacefully and with a mask on. What’s the betting masks wil be frowned upon at the Trump rally
@Dave O’Keeffe: Several of the leading democrats support the removal of the historical statues in honour of the military leaders on the confederate side in the civil war which is part of the agenda of the rioters at present.
It is also a well know fact that the main financial backer of the democratic party is financially supporting the rioters. Governors Cuomo, blackface Northam, Inslee, Newsom and Whitmer are the public face of that party and all support full term abortions.
@Eileen Horgan:
That’s an awful lot of nonsense. Make it up yourself?
How did ‘ we ‘ end up with this absolute muppet ?!
@Pat Kelly: you voted
Trump is a loser’s idea of a winner and a weakling’s idea of a strongman
have your say