Eamonn Coghlan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives from Dublin City Council. This whole sequence of events going back to January has been a farce. I note the media this morning stated Mr. Garth Brooks is now blaming the rules as the reason he is not coming to Ireland. I know if he were driving across Interstate 40 in Oklahoma, doing 80 mph, and was pulled in by the cops, he would certainly appreciate the rules of the road over there.

I smell a rat in all of this and the rat is money. I cannot understand that when no licence was granted and no event management plan submitted, that tickets for a concert were still sold. Walking up Grafton Street this morning, I know the ladies selling flowers there would not be allowed to do so if they did not have a permit. Licences are usually granted while the process is going through. I believe the contract of trust between the promoter and Dublin City Council or the trust between the promoter and Croke Park has been broken. There seems to be some sort of a nod and a wink going on in this case.

The rat in the room is the €40 million in ticket sales alone that is now in someone’s bank account. That money becomes more valuable over the time it is being utilised in that account. There is a contract between Mr. Brooks and the promoter, as well as one between the promoter and the GAA. Yet, there is no contract with Dublin City Council in all of this. Dublin City Council is now getting all the blame because the concerts will not take place. If it had granted permission for five concerts and there was a major catastrophe during one of them, it would also have got the blame for granting the licence. Does the blame fall with Mr. Brooks, Aiken Promotions or the GAA? Somebody seems to be bullying Dublin City Council to give the five concerts, even after three concerts were held by One Direction.

Where do we go from here? What is the ideal timeframe for a licence to be granted to ensure this does not happen again? Should we make sure that tickets are not sold until a licence has been fully granted?