CROKE PARK STADIUM Director Peter McKenna is confident that the Garth Brooks concerts will go ahead this summer and that the concerns of local residents near the venue will be alleviated
Brooks has sold out at the stadium from Friday July 25th-Tuesday July 29th in a series of gigs that will see the GAA benefit to the tune of approximately €3.75m. It’s set to be a bumper summer for Croke Park with One Direction playing at the venue from Friday May 23rd-Sunday May 25th.
Local residents are unhappy about the Brooks concerts taking place and a mediation process chaired by Labour Relations Commission chief Kieran Mulvey is currently under way.
But McKenna is confident those issues will be resolved.
“No (doubts) and I say that with as much confidence as I can”, stated McKenna. “Obviously we’ve got to go and actually get a licence, and that is a gift of the city council. But by the time we make our submission, we’ll have taken soundings from 27,000 households.
“That’s a huge number, and is really informing our plan. So what we put in front Dublin City Council will be a robust document that will take feelings from all over the area.
“We’re in a continuous dialogue with the local community. That whole process is being chaired by Kieran Mulvey and he’s doing a great job. We’re working through the issues.
“We held an full day event with members of the local community here last Saturday, and any issues people had.”
McKenna described as ‘slightly clumsy’ the legislative process that sees tickets being sold for an event before it gets a licence.
“Part of the feedback we’ve had is how we can sell tickets for an event we don’t have a licence for. To have proper consultation, people should have to apply for the licence first, and then go for tickets. It’s the same with the Pheonix Park or Marley Park or wherever.
“It seems to me to be the cart before the horse. So I can understand why people get annoyed, because the legislation is slightly clumsy. As bizarre as it may seem, a change there might help regulate the whole issue for local communities.”
