Armed secret service agents travelling to Ireland in June with the US President, Mr Bush, will not be given immunity in the event they shoot somebody while in the State, the Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, has said.
Speaking after a meeting of the heads of Europe's police forces in Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr Conroy ruled out the possibility that any deal would be struck granting immunity to Mr Bush's bodyguards.
"We (the Garda) are the investigative body here in this country and if somebody commits a criminal offence, we deal with that criminal offence no matter what part of the world the individual comes from," he said.
"As far as the security of the President's visit to Ireland [is concerned, that\] will be dealt with by members of An Garda Síochána, and members of An Garda Síochána only. That doesn't say that we will not invite other security personnel into the country to ensure that we relate well to the security people looking after the President on a daily basis."
Asked about recent reports that US security personnel would be granted immunity, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, indicated yesterday that this was not the case. "The shooting at anybody in Ireland is only done to save lives and that is a fundamental principle of our constitution and our common law and it is not going to be abrogated in any way," he said.
Mr Bush's security staff are expected to be given permission to carry firearms while he is in the State. However, a spokesman for the Minister for Justice said yesterday that no application for immunity in relation to their use had been received, and any such application would not be granted. Should secret service personnel use their weapons they would be "subject to the law the same as everybody else", he said.
Mr McDowell said that "in certain circumstances visiting heads of state from other countries are entitled to bring in security men with them \ in certain circumstances they are entitled to carry firearms".
He added: "But I believe that we have to keep this all with a sense of proportion and I think that you will find that no unusual and unprecedented steps will be taken on this occasion."
Asked again if they could use their firearms, Mr McDowell said: "To save lives, yes."
His spokesman said this was the same position as in relation to the use of legally held firearms by anyone else in the State.
Labour spokesman on justice Mr Joe Costello said the majority of Irish people would be shocked to learn from Mr McDowell that members of Mr Bush's entourage could open fire if they deemed it necessary to save lives. Mr McDowell's statement amounted to a vote of no confidence in the Garda, he said.
Mr Costello said US security personnel should be warned they are subject to Irish law "in the same way as any other people who visit this country".
Green Party MEP Ms Patricia McKenna said if the Americans were not happy with security arrangements here they should consider relocating the meeting.
US Secret Service: what Ireland can expect
An advanced party of United States Secret Service agents is due in Ireland in the coming weeks to finalise security arrangements for the visit of President Bush in late June.
Agents are due to travel not only from the agency's Washington headquarters but also from its field offices in Europe, where information on regional security threats is collated.
The US Secret Service, which is dedicated to protecting the president from assassination attempts, has 15 overseas offices, with six in the EU, including London, Paris, Berlin and Rome.
The request for immunity for security agents is a standard one made ahead of overseas visits by the president, though all of these matters are dealt with in a semi-secret manner.
The British Home Office turned down such a request ahead of the visit by President Bush to London last November, stating that any officer who opened fire would be subject to trial under the British legal system.
Britain also ordered Washington not to fit any vehicles with "mini-guns"- high-powered machine guns firing up to 2,000 rounds a minute, which normally travel with the presidential cavalcade.
Neither the Department of Justice nor the Garda would say yesterday whether such weapons would be allowed into Ireland for the June visit.
A Garda spokeswoman said its policy was not to go into operational details.
The Secret Service normally flies in its own vehicles for use in overseas trips, including Cadillac One, the president's armoured car, which is designed to withstand rocket-propelled grenades as well as chemical and biological attacks. All parts of the chassis, including the underside, are armour-plated.
The Secret Service, which was established in 1865 initially to counteract counterfeit crime, developed its presidential protection role in 1901 following the assassination of President William McKinley.
For President Bush's three-day visit to London last year, the Secret Service unsuccessfully sought a number of other concessions, including the closure of the London Underground and permission for US aircraft to be deployed against rioters... Joe Humphreys