Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their submissions. I am a bit puzzled by Deputy Stanley's position in that he spoke for ten minutes about his opposition to the ministerial power to intervene with regard to planning conditions for events, which is the main plank of this Bill, but he then states he will support the Bill. I am unsure as to his position; it is a bit too complex for me to understand.

I thank Deputy Dooley for raising this matter, which he has done with good intentions and which I acknowledge. I refer to what occurred in Croke Park with regard to the Garth Brooks concerts, the fiasco that followed, the hurt it caused to many stakeholders, especially those who had purchased tickets, the local residents and everyone who was up in arms at the time. It was acknowledged that a further review of the licensing regulations was necessary. A deep consultation process was undertaken and I was happy to sign off on amendments to those regulations last Friday. These will bring greater clarity and extended notice to those involved in the licensing of large scale events in this country. It is an important step because a mandatory pre-consultation meeting must be held with the relevant local authority and no tickets can be advertised or sold prior to that pre-consultation meeting. This is the main change to the regulations which the Government has provided.

We are aware that there is a need to strike a balance between the rights of residents and the due process associated with any event licensing applications. I think the balance has been struck and the regulations will bring greater certainty to promoters, to performers, to those people interested in attending concerts and to the residents of the area.

Conditions for event licensing are generally issues referring to public safety, the maintenance of public order, noise and traffic management. As I outlined, these matters are conditions attached to licences and are most appropriately dealt with by the local authorities in consultation with the principal response agencies involved at the time of major event planning. These include the Garda Síochána, the emergency services, the local authority, traffic management officials, the HSE and many others involved in the background planning for safe and secure large scale events. The views of the local residents are regarded as very important.

They can be reflected by the public representatives who represent those areas appropriately at that level. Therefore, it is obvious to me that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government should not become an arbiter on such issues. I believe we have learned - I certainly hope we have learned - from the events of the past year and I certainly do not want to see them repeated, as I am sure Deputies opposite do not.

The new event licensing regulations that I signed into law last week, which emanated from the work of the review group that was mandated to make recommendations for appropriate changes to the legislation, will provide greater certainty to the whole event licensing process. Some minor problems will always arise in this area. For example, we witnessed the cancellation of a music festival in Killarney this weekend due to poor ticket sales. It is not possible to provide for every eventuality in legislation. I am confident that the new regulations are balanced and reasonable and constitute a genuine approach aimed at preventing the type of scenario we saw last year from being repeated.

I thank the Deputy. This was an interesting, appropriate and topical debate and it is an issue we should keep under review and evaluation. I look forward to seeing how the new regulations will improve the process for all stakeholders.

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