Even the drain covers will be sealed for US president’s visit
Operation Trump swings into action
SECURITY preparations have been stepped up in Co. Clare ahead of Donald Trump’s visit.
Members of the Defence Forces yesterday arrived at Mr Trump’s hotel in Doonbeg, west Clare, where he and his wife Melania will stay when they visit on June 5.
Companies based near Shannon Airport have been requested to submit details of employees and other persons expected to visit their premises while the US president is in the county.
And even the manhole covers will be sealed on the route to be taken by Mr Trump.
While the White House only confirmed the visit on Tuesday night, gardaí were deployed at the airport and at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg last week in anticipation of the announcement.
Uniformed and plain-clothes gardaí have been monitoring traffic entering Shannon Airport where Air Force One will land, and are carrying out similar duties at the Doonbeg resort.
Gardaí are patrolling the 400acre property in both marked and unmarked vehicles.
The Defence Forces are also expected to be involved in the security operation at the West Clare golf resort, and members arrived there yesterday.
Sources have also confirmed that towers constructed of scaffolding will be erected around the golf course to provide US Secret Service personnel and gardaí an elevated view of the course.
Similar towers were erected for police snipers to provide extra security when Trump visited Scotland last year.
Meanwhile, motorway maintenance crews working on behalf of Traffic Infrastructure Ireland have been requested to count and mark every manhole cover and drain along the N19 and M18, along which the presidential cavalcade will travel.
Once this task has been completed, it is believed that members of the Army Engineers Corps will move in and weld each cover in place.
The seals will then be checked and double-checked.
The measures are similar to those undertaken ahead of the visit of President George W Bush in 2004.
Sources have also said that gardaí will be posted on the side of the motorway at 500-metre intervals, while officers will take up positions on all flyovers and interchanges along the N19 and M18 sections of the cavalcade route.
It is also understood that two possible routes from Shannon Airport to Doonbeg have been identified.
A truck carrying new golf buggies, with their seats still covered in plastic, arrived at the golf course yesterday morning.
It is thought that they will be required to transport the large numbers of security personnel around the golf course when the US president plays there during his stay.
The course at Doonbeg, originally designed by golfing legend Greg Norman, has been completely reconfigured under the stewardship of world-renowned golf course designer Dr Martin Hawtree, at an investment of more than €7million to date.
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Gardaí posted on every flyover