Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee. I agree with Deputy Coffey that we should not play the blame game or to be judge and jury. It is not why I am here. It is a very difficult situation and people are torn, given that we are talking about a concert while many other major issues are ongoing. The issue has dominated the media for the past two weeks and has received an unprecedented amount of attention for an issue of its kind. I was unaware that we had so many Garth Brooks fans in the country. I love going to gigs and concerts and I have been let down in the past when an artist has had to cancel, which is fine. I am disappointed that Aiken Promotions and Garth Brooks could not come to some sort of agreement or meet the council half way, because many people have been let down.

Mr. Keogan went through a series of phone calls and said there was talk in mid-December of the concerts taking place. By early January the contact was made and the second and third concerts were announced. However, in the phone call of 31 January when Aiken Promotions announced that it wanted a fourth and fifth concert, did the council ask it to hold off on promoting or selling the tickets? By February, all the tickets had been sold. At any point, did the council tell Aiken it had serious reservations about the fourth and fifth concerts and not to go ahead? If not, was it because the legislation was not there and the council could not legally ask Aiken to hold off?

During the five weeks' public consultation process, what work, if any, was done by the council or Aiken to make people aware that there was a problem? Surely, the crisis talks during the past two weeks should have been held during the five-week consultation process when the council knew there was going to be a problem. During the past two or three weeks there have been at least four or five concerts in Marley Park. I attended one last week and it was bedlam. It caused disruption for people trying to get home at night and to take buses and trains. What is the difference between Marley Park and Croke Park regarding permission to hold such concerts? Is it purely down to whether or not the residents object? Regarding the signatures, will anything further be done? Is it in the hands of the Garda or will the council take anything on board? What needs to be done to ensure this does not happen again?