Security frenzy underway across Mayo ahead of visit of US Vice-President

COMING TO MAYO US Vice-President Joe Biden.


Neill O'Neill

CURIOSITY amongst Westport locals about increased on-street Garda activity in the past week can be answered by the fact that one of the most powerful men on earth will visit the town later this month.
US Vice-President Joe Biden is expected in Mayo next week, on what will be one of his last holidays before he leaves his post early next year, having served two terms as deputy to President Barack Obama.
Mr Biden can trace his ancestry directly to counties Louth and Mayo and it has been reported that he will spend several days in Ireland with his family, including a stay in Mayo. This will not be an official state visit and Mr Biden is travelling in a private capacity. Though the county is no stranger to VIP guests, Mayo will likely not have seen such levels of security around any dignitary, since US President Ronald Reagan visited Cong and Ashford Castle in the 1980s and perhaps the iconic trip to Knock Shrine in 1979 by Pope John Paul II. It has not been revealed where Mr Biden will stay, but rumours have been circulating about some hotels which were contacted about hosting the Vice-President and his sizeable entourage. With it being high season in terms of tourism in Mayo, there is likely to have been some difficulty for the US authorities in securing the required volume of hotel rooms to accommodate everybody in one location.
Both Ballina and surrounding parts of north Mayo, where Mr Biden’s ancestors hail from, and Westport, have been subjected to massive pre-arrival security checks in recent weeks, with Gardaí going door to door in business premises in Westport in recent days, checking rooms with vantage points onto the town’s streets and inquiring about staff and residents and their vehicles. A register of cars usually parked in the town centre has been taken, as an eye is being kept out for anything at all out of the ordinary. It is thought that Mr Biden will not stay in Westport, but will visit the town, and perhaps some of its well-known attractions.

Lockdown
Precise information remains tightly guarded ‘for security reasons’ but it is known that the Biden family will be in Westport at some stage of the Mayo leg of their visit, and the town will be in total lockdown when they arrive, with unprecedented numbers of Gardaí on duty, backed up by United States Secret Service agents. The same will occur in Ballina and wherever they go, on what is likely to be a precisely planned itinerary. Checks continue to be made on properties and vehicles across both towns, but it is not known if the US authorities will go to the exceptional lengths of security which accompanies a visit by the President himself, for this private visit by the Vice-President. This involves removing bins and on-street furniture, welding man holes shut and very detailed advance visits by his security team to do checks on every potential route in and out of every area, and potential hazards and dangers, even in locations he may wish to visit on a whim or the spur of the moment. It has been reported that Vice President Biden will meet An Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Mayo, and that the pair might even play a game of golf, with several of the county’s courses rumoured to have already been assessed for potential security risks.
The motorcade that usually accompanies Vice-President Biden everywhere he travels comprises more than 20 vehicles — including vans, Garda cars, black Chryslers and even an ambulance, as well as at least five SUVs flown in from Washington. Garda motorcycles will lead, trail and flank the entire length of the vehicle train. It is not known if helicopters will form part of the entourage on this visit. Ireland West Airport, Knock is the likely location for Mr Biden’s arrival and departure, and at the very least will no doubt have been scouted as a landing and departing location for the trip. The airport have made no comment on this as all parties involved in the preparation for the trip keep their potential involvement under wraps, as per usual security protocols for a guest of this importance. Similarly, while Mr Biden will be accompanied by his own medical team, Mayo University Hospital will have been identified as the go to location in the event of any medical emergency, as the secret service will leave nothing to chance about this trip.