Obama fans won't be vetted for Croke Park speech

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Police have no plans to vet the 80,000 people who will pack Croke Park to hear President Barack Obama’s speech to the Irish nation next month.

The Mail on Sunday reports that vetting the crowd for terrorists or criminals is impossible for Obama’s Croker visit, first revealed on Irish Central.

Security sources have confirmed to the MoS that it: “Would not be practical to check for criminal records or links to extremist or terrorist organizations” for the estimated 80,000 strong crowd.

Instead, Irish police will mount a huge security operation for the showcase speech at the home of the GAA on Monday, 23rd May.

A senior police source told the paper: “At least 250 armed officers from specialist units will patrol the rally.

“On top of this, there will be up to 1,000 uniformed police and around 400 US secret service agents on duty.

“This will be one of the biggest security operations in the history of the State.

“People who are attending will not be vetted because that is simply not practical to do.

“The Gardai (Irish Police) are very confident that any potential troublemakers would be rooted out within seconds.”

Every spectator entering Croke Park will be searched by metal detector while police also intend to mount random on-the-spot frisk searches.

Ticket arrangements have yet to be confirmed for the Obama visit but will be free of charge.

All police leave has been canceled for the visits of Obama and the Queen of England next month.

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