Garda in Dublin have leave cancelled due to Ireland v England security fears

Garda bosses have cancelled days off for thousands of officers so they can police a looming Ireland v England football face off in Dublin, it has emerged.

The Irish Mirror reports that the estimated 3,800 gardai who work in the Dublin region have been told scheduled days off have been cancelled on September 6 and 7 as part of the policing operation for the Ireland England game at the Aviva Stadium.

The September 7 match, which is expected to be a 51,000 sell out, is part of the UEFA Nations League competition and fears of English hooligans coming over for it have sparked a major security headache for gardai. It will be only the second time the English national team has played in Dublin since the infamous Lansdowne Road riot of February 1995 and Garda bosses are set to mount a massive security operation to ensure there is no repeat of that night’s chaotic scenes.

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Even though the game is almost three months away, sources say gardai have begun their preparations and that includes making sure they have the maximum amount of officers on duty the day before and day of the big game. All gardai in the Dublin Metropolitan Region the policing area that covers the city and county were emailed earlier this week informing that rest days for September 6 and 7 have now been cancelled.

That means anyone rostered to be off those days will have to turn up for work. And they have been told that no holidays will be permitted for those days unless they have already been granted. Sources say Garda bosses have declared the match a so-called extraordinary event which gives them the right to change officers’ days off.

“Rest days have been cancelled and annual (leave) will not be approved. It’s an extraordinary event, apparently,” a source said last night. And another added: “Nobody will be getting leave unless it has already been approved.”

The decision will mean Garda bosses have more personnel on the streets and in the stadium to deal with any events that may arise. It’s understood the Garda Public Order Unit or riot squad will be on duty for the games, as well as normal uniformed officers.

Sources also said it was likely the Garda Air Support Unit, Dog Unit and Mounted Unit would all be involved in the major policing operation. Garda bosses hope the event will pass off without major incident like England’s game at the Aviva in June 2015, which ended up in a goalless stalemate on the pitch but have to prepare for the worst.

Britain has a common travel area with Ireland, which means it will be easier for English hooligans to reach here than counties in continental Europe where controls are stricter and that has led to fears they could target the Dublin game.

A Garda spokesman declined to comment on the details of the policing operation when contacted last night. He said: “An Garda Siochana will provide the media with details on policing, security, and traffic management arrangements ahead of the event.”

“Planning, as with all major events, has already begun in coordination with relevant stakeholders. For operational reasons, we will not be commenting further at this time.” Garda bosses will be doing their utmost to avoid a repeat of the Lansdowne Road riot in February 1995 one of the darkest days in Irish sporting history.

The friendly match descended into chaos when Ireland were winning 1-0 and English fans began ripping up seats and throwing them at Irish supporters.

The referee then called the game off the game and sections of the English fans began a full scale riot. Gardai had to use their batons on the mob and more than 40 rioters were arrested, while 20 people were injured. An independent report later found that some English fans were fully at fault and rioted without any provocation.

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