The Irish coastguard unit Gardai will be patrolling the flooded waters to ensure there is no trouble as 80,000 fans gather for the queen of pop first ever concert.
Lord Henry Mount Charles, the owner of the historic County Meath Castle said: “The Boyne is a hungry river, it is reputed to claim 12 lives a year, not I might add, on concert days.

“Though we have had some very unfortunate incidents.

“People look at it and admire it, but don`t go near it. At some of the previous tragedies people have had tickets in their pockets and that is just crazy stuff.”

Chief Superintendent Michael Finnegan, who is heading the security operation, said the river is flooded and even more dangerous than usual.

A team of 120 Gardai including the drugs unit with dogs, the mounted unit, the Garda sub-aqua team and crowd control officers will be policing the village from Saturday onwards.

Superintendent Finnegan said: “The Garda operation has served us well in the last number of years with Robbie Williams and U2.”

He said there will be a strong Garda presence from Saturday afternoon to the early hours of Monday morning.

He warned fans that there will be a special sitting of Navan Court on Sunday afternoon and drugs and drink-driving laws will be thoroughly enforced.

Superintendent Finnegan called on people to respect the 1,200 locals living in Slane village and said the Garda operation is there to ensure everyone enjoys the Sunday concert.

Inspector Pat Gannon of Navan Garda Station said the traffic control operation will go into place on Saturday evening and priority will be given to the buses carrying scores of concert-goers.

There will be diversions in place at Ardee for any traffic travelling towards Dublin and vehicles heading north should use the M1 motorway.

Organisers warned the gates would not open until 4pm and there is no official campsite. They appeal for people to use the coach service offered by Dublin bus and Bus Eireann.

Justin Green of promoters MCD says: “Ticket sales to date are going extremely well. Around 95% of them are now sold and we are on course for a sell out.”

The promoters said that they are working to ensure the villagers suffer as little discomfort as possible.

Gardai said there will be a corridor in the village which will give locals easy access and they will also be given security passes.

Of some of the residents’ objections, Lord Mount Charles said: “We took on board their concerns. The issue obviously was that the concert was being played on a Sunday. The last time that happened was 20 years ago and there was a very different scenario in operation. There was a very much lower level of policing.”

He said everyone realised what went wrong at the Bob Dylan concert in 1984 where there were riots.

“I`m confident it will go according to plan,” he said.
Source: u.tv