Mr. Jim Keogan:

In the context of the level of contact that took place between the various officers of the city council and the promoters and venue owners, it is fair to say they were of an informal nature and it was more notification than consultation. There is provision in the existing regulations that allows for a formal meeting to take place if it is agreed between, on the one part, the promoter and, on the other, the licensing authority. Such meetings are to discuss a proposed licence application and a draft management plan, without prejudice, which means we can be frank. However, no such meeting was requested and no such meeting took place. We were notified after the event of the five concerts, or certainly after the three concerts had been sold. There had been some informal discussion that there might be two concerts taking place sometime over the summer this year.

It is fair to say from the evidence and the discussion we had here during the week that there is a requirement to review the current legislation and the operation of how we carry on the business of licence applications because of the very sad consequences for all concerned. However, we had to deal with the situation that was before us. We would very much welcome in any review that some consideration would be given to a mandatory pre-application consultation before it is decided to sell tickets.

On the operational side, we have no difficulty with Croke Park from an operational point of view as regards holding events. We have no difficulty with the gardaí. They are very professional and very experienced in how they carry on their operations in securing public order. In the context of traffic management, there was an excellent submission in regard to how they were going to deal with the traffic aspects. They were not the issues that eventually led to the decision we arrived at. They were referring back to the issue of the cumulative effect of the five consecutive concerts.