Newsmedianews - Archived direct input headlines

NEWSMEDIANEWS

______________________________Direct Input News Archive______________________________

Enforceable agreement on future Croke Park events urged by local residents printable version

07 Jul 2014: posted by the editor - Entertainment, Music, Arts, Ireland

Dublin Senator Catherine Noone is to propose a Seanad Private Members Bill to amend the outdoor licensing process and ensure that events with over 10,000 tickets will have to obtain a license prior to tickets going on sale.

The move follows the furore over the Garth Brooks concerts exceeding previously agreed numbers of annual concerts at Dublin's Croke Park.

Senator Noone said: "In light of the issue which has arisen in Croke Park, it is clear that the concert licensing process isn't fit for purpose. What we need now is a change to the process and an ability to allow the Council, residents, promoters and all stakeholders engage in a fair, transparent process prior to tickets going on sale.

"The entirety of the difficulty here is centred on the fact that around 400,000 tickets have been sold without the license having been granted. This presumptive sales process has long been a broken one, and an incident like this was inevitable. Under my proposed change the license would have to be obtained before tickets go on sale. This would only apply to large events over 10,000 people such as the concerts in Croke Park.

"We need to make sure that a situation such as this isn't allowed to arise again. While some people are completely focussed on just these concerts, the reality is that we need foresight in order to put together regulations which will allow Councils, residents and those who work in the music business to work constructively together on future concert license applications".

Meanwhile a group of residents from the Croke Park area are pressing for a long-term enforceable agreement on future Croke Park concerts.

Calling themselves 'Stop the Croke Park Concert Madness', the residents who residents live within the locked down community around Croke Park have acknowledged Dublin City Council's decision to grant a licence for three concerts and say they would welcome the opportunity to continue discussions with Croke Park mediator Kieran Mulvey on establishing a long term enforceable agreement between Croke Park and the local community.

Speaking on the Group's behalf local resident Colm Stephens says: 'Interested local residents met with Croke Park and Aiken Promotions representatives in a public meeting in January and many outlined their concerns about the five concerts to the promoters, advising that they should not proceed with the application. Dublin City Council had similar concerns, and on this basis granted a licence for three concerts."

The Group have met with Kieran Mulvey on three occasions over the past few months leading up to the publication of his Mediator's Report on The Long-Term Management of Concerts/Special Events in Croke Park until the end of 2019 to try and resolve the Garth Brooks concerts issue. GAA General Secretary, Paraic Duffy attended one of these meetings temporarily.

Colm Stephens continued: "In the first of these meetings, we proposed that should the five Garth Brooks Concerts - and American football match planned for later this year - go ahead, we would like a moratorium on all concerts for two years. This proposal was rejected by Croke Park stating that they 'cannot commit to holding less than three Concerts in 2015 and in 2016 - they have legal commitments in this area to make the Stadium available.

"We would welcome the opportunity meet with Mr Mulvey again to try put in place an Agreement that would be enforceable on all parties. We also ask that all parties living and working within the area be included in discussions be considered in this agreement."

Update
Statement from Stop Croke Park Concert Madness Group
7 July
In our meetings with Kieran Mulvey and Paraic Duffy (General Secretary, GAA) the Stop Croke Park Concert Madness group of local residents opposed to the intensification of use of Croke Park proposed that if the Garth Brooks concerts and one American Football match were to go ahead, there should be a moratorium of two years on all concerts.

The response to this positive proposal was that this was impossible due to legal commitments of the management of the Stadium to hold events next year.

Group spokesperson Colm Stephens states: "If Croke Park had agreed to this reasonable request at the time they would not have created this mess. We would like to know why our original solution to the problem is being presented too late in the day as a Croke Park solution when it has already said in the Mulvey Recommendations that it is legally obliged to hold concerts next year?"

''We would also like to know why local residents, who have presented a solution to the problem, are being excluded from discussions to find a resolution."

About Stop the Croke Park Concert Madness
Stop the Croke Park Concert Madness is a collective of residents living within the locked-down community around Croke Park Stadium who wish Croke Park to honour its commitment to hold only three concerts or Special Events in any one year. The group was formed at a public meeting held in March to provide support and highlight the concerns of local residents about the negative impact of the five Garth Brooks concerts on the local community. Representatives of the group met with Croke Park appointed mediator Kieran Mulvey after the tickets for the concerts were sold to highlight the concerns of local residents in relation to the intensification of use of Croke Park Stadium, which has been an issue major concern for some time.

Tags: Croke Park, Dublin

Back to headlines
comments (0)
recommend

>Local comment

Name: Remember me

E-mail: (optional)

Captcha

Return to full index