President Biden’s visit causes court havoc

Several cases were struck out by Judge Elizabeth MacGrath at a sitting of Nenagh District Court on Friday last because gardaí involved in prosecutions were absent after being instead deployed to County Mayo to help with the massive security operation put in place for the visit of the US President Joe Biden.

As the cases involoving the missing gardaí were called, Sergeant Regina McCarthy of Nenagh Garda Station urged the judge to instead adjourn the matters for hearing to another court date.

However, the judge turned down the request and allowed all the defendants to go free. She said many people had come to court expecting their cases to be heard, only to discover that gardaí involved were absent.

She said there were sufficient numbers in the force not involved in court cases who could instead have been deployed to duties in Ballina.

She said that while management had the right to deploy any officers it wished to the security operation put in place for Mr Biden, there were gardaí who were supposed to be present in court and that had not been taken into account by bosses in the force.