Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday was a bad day for Dublin, particularly, I suppose, if one was a Brazilian Garth Brooks fan. Not to be flippant about it in any sense, Mr. Brooks followed through on his threat to cancel all five concerts and it is a considerable blow to the Dublin economy. For a variety of reasons the tentacles of 400,000 fans attending a particular event in the city are far-reaching and affect everything, from restaurants to hotels, to hairdressers, to transports to taxis. It is devastating for the city. I would agree with Senator Darragh O'Brien on this, that the city manager does not seem to have been in any way prepared for this scenario as it unfolded and when officials continually repeated that there would be three concerts and yet, at the same time, communicating to those involved with Mr. Brooks that there could be four potentially. This sort of horse trading might be acceptable to us here in Ireland but, clearly, it does not wash internationally.

Those who were complaining in the area where these concerts were to be held were complaining about being inconvenienced by having to listen to music for a few days but it must be said of Mr. Brooks and his concerts, if one were to think of a lot of the events that will happen this summer in Ireland, they would be the least of residents' worries when it comes to fans being potentially unruly and matters getting out of hand. These are the same people who would be complaining about the state of the economy and things not being done. Clearly, there are a lot of people to blame here.