Police officers in Ireland are threatening to refuse to report for work when Donald Trump visits the country, according to a local report.
Trump is set to arrive in Ireland on Saturday for a two-day trip, during which he will meet with Irish President Catherine Connolly, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, and visit his golf course in Doonbeg, County Clare, where the Irish Open is being held.
However, some officers assigned to work at Trump’s Doonbeg golf course during the president’s visit have warned they may not show up, citing multiple disagreements with their bosses, the Irish Mirror reported.
This includes being made to pay for their own accommodation and childcare at short notice. Other rank-and-file members of the Gardaí, the Irish police force, say their work arrangements have also been changed at the last minute.
“There are members who were notified to work five nights in Clare and were then told this week that they’re only working the weekend. It means they’ve had to spend a fortune on accommodation and change plans they had made just two weeks ago,” a source said.
Others said they were provided with accommodation to work during Trump’s trip to the golf course, but in a city around 80 miles away.
Hotel rooms near Doonbeg around the time of Trump’s visit were quoted at anywhere from $1,160 to $18,573.
“There’s a use and abuse policy from management and they’re expecting lads to just show up,” another source told the Irish Mirror. “It’s not good enough and there’s a feeling that people will refuse to turn up, go sick, or even walk if this happens again.”
Any security arrangements involving a visit from a head of state require a mammoth amount of planning and preparation from local police forces. On the eve of Trump’s visit, an Irish police source said there is a feeling among officers that the president’s visit will be a “s--t show.”
Trump’s visit to Ireland is expected to draw huge protests, including from politicians in the country’s opposition party.
“The people of this country oppose his toxic and dangerous agenda. He is up to his neck in the genocidal crimes Israel has committed against the Palestinian people,” Richard Boyd Barrett, a member of Ireland’s People Before Profit party, said at a Wednesday press conference.
“He has set the entire Middle East on fire with a criminal war against Iran. He has driven up the cost of living for every single person in the world.”
The last serving U.S. president to visit Ireland was Joe Biden in April 2023.
