Mr. Owen Keegan:

Before that, the issue of a senior garda stating - I do not know if it was at the Committee of Public Accounts - that they had no issue is not relevant in that the decision-making authority on an event is the city council. We are required to have regard to the impact on residents and to submissions made. We never implied that the Garda would have a difficulty policing five concerts, so that was not the basis of our decisions. However, we must have regard for the interests of residents and we have done that on this occasion.

The Deputy suggested that I am inactive in terms of economic activity. I believe that the decision to permit three concerts, which is a 50% increase on the maximum number we ever gave before, represents the council being very proactive in facilitating or promoting economic development. I do not accept the suggestion that we made major mistakes just because we had regard to the concerns of residents. I believe the procedure was correctly applied and we reached an appropriate, balanced and reasonable decision having regard to all the competing interests.