Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is wrong to suggest that the Taoiseach has suddenly become interested in rescuing the Garth Brooks situation. Yesterday evening, the Office of the Taoiseach or the Government received a direct communication on the matter from Mr. Brooks's organisation. As I stated yesterday, there are two things wrong in our democracy. First, 400,000 people were allowed to buy tickets for functions that had not been licensed or approved. Second, that any one person, manager or chief executive should have such power without a right of appeal or any check on this power, is clearly wrong in a democracy. We must put these two issues right and I hope, for the sake of the economy and everyone concerned, that the problem will be rectified. The Lord Mayor of Dublin, the Office of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, the Office of the Taoiseach, Mr. Kieran Mulvey, the GAA and the promoter are all engaged and I hope common sense will prevail. These two matters must be put right for the future.