Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

That is a specific issue that must be seriously addressed.

Deputy Keating raised the issue of airport-type security. The difficulty, I have been told, with this concert is that there was a large number of young people sitting around drinking in the Phoenix Park immediately before the concert, with the gates only opened a half hour before the performance so that 40,000 to 45,000 people could enter. The gates should have been opened much earlier and the approach taken to alcohol - an issue relevant not just to the concert promoters - resulted in many young people drinking cans of alcohol at a rapid rate before gaining entry. That was because they feared that the alcohol would be confiscated.

The promoters should apologise for the level of disorder at the concert to the vast majority of people who were law-abiding and attended the event in the hope of having an enjoyable occasion. It is worth mentioning that although, unfortunately, we have seen a series of recent incidents where trouble and violence was fuelled by young people drinking to excess and taking illegal drugs, the problem is not a matter of law and order, and it is not confined to this event. The issue requires action by parents, educators and those who sell alcohol, not only in public houses but across the retail sector.

For my part, in the coming months I will be putting in place regulations aimed at addressing the problem of excessive drinking. The Deputies have helpfully outlined a number of the concerns arising from Saturday night's events and I will take whatever action is open to me and required when I receive the Garda Commissioner's report.

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