Court to sit on Sunday for Madonna gig

Navan district court will sit on Sunday afternoon to coincide with the Madonna concert in Slane, Co Meath, gardaí said today…

Navan district court will sit on Sunday afternoon to coincide with the Madonna concert in Slane, Co Meath, gardaí said today.

Chief Superintendent Michael Finnegan said a team of 120 gardaí - 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 and warned drugs- and drink-driving laws would be thoroughly enforced.

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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 come into effect on Saturday evening and that 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 4 p.m. and there is no official campsite. They appeal for people to use the coach service offered by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann.

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

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

Of some of the residents' objections, Slane Castle owner, Lord Henry 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."

Concert-goers were also warned of the dangersof the River Boyne, which will be patrolled by the coastguard.