Three gigs and that’s it says Croke Park group

CROKE Park residents have said they will only accept three concerts next year, even though five are ‘sanctioned, planned and going ahead’.

The independent chairperson of Croke Park community meetings, Noeline Blackwell, has said that the five concerts are already booked, with three Garth Brooks shows and two Ed Sheeran gigs pencilled in for next year.

Aiken Promotions has been granted permission for three of the Brooks shows in 2022, on September 9, 10 and 11. But applications have been lodged for two extra Brooks gigs in Croker on Friday, September 16, and Saturday, September 17, with Ed Sheeran playing GAA HQ on April 15 and 17.

However, angry Croke Park residents have said they will only agree to three concerts next year.

Speaking after a meeting of hundreds of residents to hear the concert proposals, Colm Stephens, of the Clonliffe & Croke Park Area Residents’ Association said they were presented with a ‘fait accompli’ of five concerts going ahead with applications for two more. He told Newstalk Breakfast: ‘Peter McKenna, the CEO of Croke Park, put on the poor mouth and told us that the reason why they needed seven concerts in the coming year was because – in his words – the GAA was broke. That was greeted with laughter.’ Mr Stephens further explained: ‘We have a huge, huge building set in the middle of a very residential area with Plan: Garth Brooks is keen on Croker close, narrow streets with poor traffic infrastructure.

‘It’s like having a nightclub with 80,000 people, plonked in the middle of a residential area.’

He said residents will not budge from the three-concert proposal and would only cooperate with Croke Park for those gigs.

‘Three concerts in one year is an acceptable level of disruption and that is our compromise,’ he said. ‘We will bend over backwards and cooperate with Croke Park for all the arrangements.’

However, Susan Mangan from Ballybough welcomed the concerts by the award-winning star.

She told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne: ‘It’s really much-needed business to our local community.’

Lawyer Ms Blackwell, who chaired Thursday’s meeting, later confirmed: ‘There are five [dates] in the books already’ that have full permission to go ahead.

She said the next stage of the process is getting people involved in creating a good experience for the concert dates.

Aiken Promotions said: ‘We were pleased to have the chance to meet with, listen to and engage with residents in person [on Thursday] evening. We look forward to continuing to engage with the residents in the weeks ahead.’

‘It’s much-needed business for us’