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

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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.

An emotional Jack Charlton, Ireland manager, on the Lansdowne Road pitch after English fans riot in 1995(Image: INPHO/Billy Stickland)

“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.”

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