Mr. Peter Aiken:

I will outline the events, from my point of view. Aiken Promotions has promoted shows all over Ireland for 53 years. Throughout this time, we have operated to the highest standards in terms of business practice and the planning and staging of events.

In late December 2013 I concluded a deal with Bob Doyle, Garth Brooks' manager, and also with Peter McKenna of Croke Park for two shows on 25 and 26 July 2014. On 20 January 2014, Garth visited Croke Park to announce that he was returning after 17 years, and would come out of retirement and film his comeback special - a live concert broadcast from Croke Park in Dublin. There was widespread coverage of the press conference nationally and worldwide. It became apparent there was going to be huge demand for tickets because people started queuing as soon as the press conference took place. I spoke again with Bob Doyle and Peter McKenna and told them that there definitely could be a third show, we should have it ready to cope with demand if the first two shows sold out. Tickets went on sale at 9 a.m. on 30 January. The three shows sold out in two hours with thousands of people still queuing at outlets and thousands of people online trying to purchase tickets.

After tickets went on sale, the media coverage was extensive and focused on the desperation of fans queuing for tickets all over Ireland. It also highlighted some technical difficulties which meant some people could not get tickets in some areas. Plus, there were reports that tickets were starting to exchange hands for hugely inflated prices. I had further conversations with Bob Doyle and also with Peter McKenna. In direct response to the demand, we agreed to do one more show and possibly a fifth one.

On 1 February, our event controller called the Dublin city manager to inform him of the plans for additional shows and he expressed appreciation for the courtesy of letting him know. On 3 February the fourth show was announced. On Wednesday, 5 February, a meeting was held at Croke Park which was attended by Aiken Promotions, Croke Park and the Garda to discuss the Garth Brooks event, including the potential impact on the community and how it might be addressed.

On 6 February, tickets were released for the fourth show and again it was an instant sell-out. I spoke again to Bob Doyle and again to Peter McKenna and it was agreed to release the fifth show for sale which sold out immediately.

On Wednesday, 12 February, a meeting was held with Dublin City Council. I was accompanied by the event controller and the licensing and safety officer for Aiken Promotions. Attending the meeting from the council was the city manager, the executive manager and the licensing officer. The meeting was constructive.

Dublin City Council did inform us that it would be a big ask to do five consecutive days at Croke Park and that it would be looking for additionality to the standard arrangements to address the impact on the local community. We also discussed the timeframe for submitting the licence application and the potential benefits to the city.

On 12 February, a meeting chaired by a community representative was held with local residents where a number of objections were raised, not all of which related to the Garth Brooks concerts. The meeting was attended by Aiken Promotions who were on hand to respond to specific inquiries regarding the Garth Brooks event.

On 18 February, Aiken Promotions and Croke Park met with local politicians where a number of concerns were discussed along with some constructive proposals. On 11 March, a second meeting took place between Aiken Promotions, Croke Park and the political representatives for the local area. On 21 March, Aiken Promotions and Croke Park met with gardaí to discuss the event.

On 29 March, an open day was held at Croke Park for local residents. At this, the plans were available for inspection as well as a rolling PowerPoint presentation summarising the main points of the event. Croke Park and Aiken Promotions representatives were available to answer questions and record comments.

On 3 April, I met with Bob Doyle and the rest of the Garth Brooks team in Nashville. They made a general inquiry about the status of the licence. I relayed to them that Peter McKenna had spoken to the city manager and he had been told that we would get the licence for the five shows.

On 17 April, the licence application was submitted to Dublin City Council, 14 weeks before the event. It has been wrongly reported that we left this to the last minute to submit to Dublin City Council. This was in fact submitted four weeks in advance of the current requirement which is ten weeks before an event.

On 13 May, Aiken Promotions met with Dublin Fire Brigade to review proposals in the licence application.

On 3 June, there was a meeting attended by Dublin City Council, Croke Park and Aiken Promotions to explain in great detail the schedule for removing all the production after the fifth show on Tuesday, 29 July, and returning Croke Park fit for purpose for the matches due to take place on Sunday, 3 August. A schedule was agreed within the permitted working hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Given that we were actively discussing the fifth show in such detail with Dublin City Council, surely this would have been an ideal opportunity for the council to raise objections or flag that this show was problematic.

On 5 June, Aiken Promotions attended a meeting with Dublin City Council regarding sound management. No major concerns were expressed about the capability of Aiken Promotions to achieve compliance. On 10 June, Aiken Promotions attended a meeting with the HSE to discuss the draft medical plan for the event. That same day, we also attended a meeting at Store Street Garda Station regarding traffic management, at which a number of proposals were tabled by Aiken Promotions and appeared to be well received by all present.

On 16 June, the first statutory agencies meeting took place at Croke Park with contributions from all attending parties, including Dublin City Council, the Garda, the fire authority, the HSE and the venue. On 23 June, the second statutory agencies' meeting took place at Croke Park with all relevant parties attending, including Dublin City Council.

On 2 July, at approximately 10.30 p.m., I received a call from my event controller to say that the city manager had phoned him to say they were only granting a licence for three concerts at Croke Park, the first three dates. I immediately informed Bob Doyle of this development and his response was that it would not be acceptable as they had committed to doing five nights. I relayed this position to the event controller who passed the message back to the city manager. Shortly after, the city manager made contact again with a firm offer to grant the licence for four shows. I again immediately relayed this to Bob Doyle who then brought Garth himself on to the phone to be updated on the situation. Garth Brooks responded in the early hours of Thursday morning, 3 July, that he had agreed to do five shows and was committed to playing all five nights. Garth treats his fans equally and fairly and, therefore, could not treat 160,000 people who had bought tickets for the fourth and fifth shows differently from the fans who had bought tickets for the first three nights, so his position would have to be that it was five shows or nothing. I relayed this response back to the event controller who asked that Garth's position be considered by the council and a view on this conveyed back to us before 1 p.m. that day.

At 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 3 July - ahead of the 1 p.m. time discussed - the licence was issued by Dublin City Council for three shows only. I immediately contacted Bob Doyle to advise him of the situation as, first, the licence had been issued publicly at an earlier time than expected; and, second, it was immediately being picked up on the newswires that permission had only been granted for three shows. Since then, we have explored every option open to us with no success. This is not a touring show. The stage and production have been custom built for Croke Park and on such a scale that it simply could not be relocated to another venue.

On Wednesday, 9 July, I met with a senior civil servant to discuss the issues. He suggested that I speak to the city manager. During that meeting, in desperation to resolve the issue and without due consideration or any consultation with Garth Brooks, I put forward a number of different suggestions to see what options, if any, the council would be willing to review, or if the matter was closed from all angles. This included doing five concerts as originally planned, possibly doing earlier shows on the Monday and Tuesday, and also the issue of possibly doing matinées on Saturday and Sunday. The matinées on Saturday and Sunday was the only option that the city manager responded positively to.

On review, it was quickly evident that the option of doing matinées on the Saturday and Sunday was neither desirable because of the safety and logistical implications, nor possible within the terms of the licence. Despite this, as this option had been made public by the city manager and because of his encouraging response to consider a revision to the licence application, I did inform Garth Brooks who immediately rejected this on practical grounds - that is, he could not do five high-intensity performances over three days. Also, a matinée show would not provide the same experience one would get at night in terms of the production, in particular the benefits of the custom-built video and lighting rigs that had been specially designed for this event.

Over the following days, I engaged with the same senior civil servant and a range of other intermediaries to find a solution. One of the suggestions was an uncontested judicial review based on the council agreeing to consider additional information. I met with the city manager and the executive manager on Monday, 14 July to discuss the option of a judicial review but we failed to get their support.

There was an additional offer put forward by Dublin City Council to look at granting a licence for new dates in October to replace the fourth and fifth shows. To follow the current licensing process, the application would be presented as a joint venture with Dublin City Council, as this only requires submission five weeks before event, rather than the ten weeks standard. I ask the committee to note that it was impossible for Garth to accept this proposal as he was committed to a world tour which is due to start in Chicago on 4 September. He was also already scheduled to perform elsewhere on the dates suggested. Therefore, I had to confirm to Garth Brooks that evening that we could not secure any more than three shows in July. As a result, Garth Brooks issued his own personal statement. Aiken Promotions then issued a notice cancelling the shows. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I feel that an event which any city in the world would have been proud to host should have been viewed with an informed strategic eye and encouraged, not dismissed.

There are a few things I would like to emphasise. The licensing system is what it is. I followed the same process that I have followed for years in Dublin, as well as other counties around Ireland. It is a well established custom and practice to sell tickets subject to licence. I must state clearly that, by custom and practice, any residual impacts of a concert on an environment are dealt with through the conditions attached to the licence. Our focus throughout all formal and informal contacts with Dublin City Council and all statutory agencies was to deliver above and beyond the standard requirements and practices to ease the impact of five concerts in recognition of the unique circumstances of this event. There was never a discussion on the number of shows being reduced, only on the impact that the five nights would have.

I accept the procedure and that the elements of the process were correctly followed, but I feel that the decision-making process was not reasonable, balanced or fair, and that the decision was wrong. I am fully aware that in the licence application process for concerts there is no recourse for review or appeal against the licence issued by Dublin City Council. However, this has been an extremely frustrating position to be left in during the last few weeks considering the events that have come to light, specifically that some of the objections lodged to the council are being investigated as fraud.