PRESIDENT ACCOSTED IN HIS ARAS OFFICE BY INTRUDER
EXCLUSIVE: Worst ever Presidential security breach as activist walks in unchallenged
PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins was confronted in his Áras office by a protester who slipped through his security cordon, the Mail can reveal.
In the biggest security breach in the history of the Presidency, the housing protester simply drove into the Áras grounds and walked unchallenged into the Head of State’s official residence last Friday.
Even when inside, the middleaged woman was not stopped. She found President Higgins working in an office off the main lobby.
She then accosted him, while he calmly tried to defuse the situation until gardaí arrived.
A major investigation is now underway as security chiefs try to
understand how she could drive through the main gates, which were undergoing maintenance work at the time, and then casually walk the rest of the way. She is believed to have confronted the President about the housing crisis.
However, despite the seriousness of the breach, President Higgins is understood to have engaged her in conversation.
Minutes later, gardaí arrived and removed her. She was not arrested and was allowed to drive away in her car as it is believed President Higgins did not want to have the matter taken further.
Nevertheless, the fact that an intruder was able to come face-to-face with Ireland’s Head of State, with such apparent ease, has sparked a major internal investigation into what is arguably the biggest security breach in the history of the Presidency. No serving President has ever been exposed to a potential security threat in this way, sources said.
There are uniformed gardaí permanently stationed at Áras an Uachtaráin, and the armed Special Detective Unit (SDU) are also based at the President’s residence. Despite this, the intruder was able to confront President Higgins with no apparent effort.
A senior source explained: ‘She managed to drive into the Áras undetected. Then she parked up and walked straight in. She quickly located the President once inside.
‘This was potentially a major situation. Imagine it wasn’t someone who simply wanted to talk to Michael D about the main political issue of the year? Imagine it was a terrorist with a bomb? She drove in, then walked into the Áras without an eyebrow being raised. It’s not just highly embarrassing that it happened for An Garda Síochána – it’s downright dangerous.’
A senior source added that the President had helped defuse the situation by calmly engaging with the woman.
‘She is a housing protester, and she had some choice words for him – asking how it is he can live in such opulence while people all over Ireland struggle to afford rent, let alone dream of buying their own home.
‘Of course he was shocked to be confronted by someone who had appeared out of nowhere. But once she began to talk, he listened. Gardaí were in the room within a couple of minutes.’
The source also explained why no arrest had been made. ‘The President did not want this woman to be arrested and she was not,’ he said.
‘She was spoken to by gardaí and left voluntarily. She drove out the gates the same way she drove in. It was a bizarre and unprecedented situation.’
Senior sources say that a ‘major Garda internal review’ into the incident is under way. A source added: ‘There is major trouble about this at Garda headquarters. How did this happen?
‘The view is that it is simply not good enough that, just because the front gates were being mended by workmen, any Tom, Dick or Harry can wander in.
‘Look at what An Garda Síochana can do in terms of protection and security when it needs to. The Pope, the British royals... There was already a plan in place to protect Trump before he cancelled. So what happened
President defused the situation
in this instance is just unacceptable.’
A source said: ‘The President is someone who doesn’t see himself as a man living in an ivory tower while the citizens of Ireland struggle. So it was a tough situation for him. He did
not want this woman to be arrested – he listened to her grievances. She was not aggressive, per se, and she was not arrested. It was an unprecedented situation, hopefully it will never be repeated.’
When contacted, the Garda Press Office declined to comment, saying: ‘It is Garda policy not to comment on security arrangements relating to the President.’
The President’s press office also made clear it could not comment on security matters.
The last major security issue for a President arose in 2014.
In that instance – which was a false alarm – President Higgins and his wife Sabina were evacuated, in their night clothes, from the Áras in the dead of night following a bomb scare.
A full-scale emergency evacuation plan was activated following a phone threat. The alarm was raised following a call to the Samaritans helpline at around 10pm. The caller reportedly warned: ‘There is a bomb set to go off in Áras an Uachtaráin to kill the President. It’s set for 12.32am. IRA, IRA.’
Senior officers took the decision to wake the President up, as armed detectives were sent from local stations to the Phoenix Park.
The First Couple were taken to another part of the Áras under armed guard where they waited until their security personnel received the all-clear.
The President was said to be ‘gracious’ for his security’s quick decision. It later emerged that the investigating gardaí suspected it was a hoax by a young teenager.
There were a number of minor breaches of security at the Áras in the late 1990s, but none anywhere near as serious as last week’s.
In June 1996, a 23-year-old homeless man was arrested as he made his way to the front door after climbing a perimeter wall. A month later, a man scaled a six-foot-high wall and perimeter fence undetected, and fished for three hours in a lake in the grounds before being spotted by President Robinson.
The following year, three schoolboys were found in the grounds of the Áras by gardaí. They said they were hunting squirrels and at first didn’t realise where they were. But when they did, they decided to take a closer look at the Áras.
The most serious incident up to now was in 1999 when a man was arrested in the grounds, armed with a sword and a cosh. Gardaí arrested him and took him to Cabra Garda station for questioning.
Number of Áras breaches in 1990s