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IT WAS ANNOUNCED this week that all elective surgery in public hospitals in Cork and Kerry, an area with a population of almost 700,000 people, would be cancelled until further notice due to unprecedented levels of overcrowding in the region’s emergency departments.
Elective surgery is a term that encompasses all non-emergency, planned procedures.
These are not trivial entities and may include cancer surgeries, repair of blood vessels that are at risk of rupture, joint replacements for patients in chronic pain, among others.
It was therefore no surprise to hear several senior politicians on the airwaves in recent days discussing the important issues of the day.
Except they weren’t discussing the situation in our hospitals, rather the proposed commemoration of officers of the Royal Irish Constabulary.
For me, the juxtaposition of these two news stories summed up the way civic Ireland, once so outraged about healthcare, now merely shrugs its shoulders at the perpetual overcrowding crisis in our hospitals.
A shameful record smashed
Today’s figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) show there are 621 patients on trolleys in Ireland’s hospitals.
On Monday, 760 patients were on trolleys, a new all-time high.
There was a time when this would have dominated the airwaves, and the major TV current affairs shows.
No longer.
What did Liveline and the Claire Byrne shows lead with on Monday?
The Black and Tans.
If it is to be our lot as Irish people to be, in the words of the great Strabane songwriter Paul Brady “still trying to reach the future through the past”, is there anything we can learn from revolutionary times that could help our crisis-stricken hospitals?
I argue yes.
This was not part of the plan
Ostensibly, what the RIC and the Irish Volunteers were fighting about 100 years ago was the right of the Irish nation to constitute itself as a republic, in line with the Democratic Programme of the first Dáil, drafted by the then leader of the Labour Party, Tom Johnson.
This document states that ”The Nation’s aged and infirm…shall not be regarded as a burden, but rather entitled to the Nation’s gratitude and consideration…it shall be the duty of the Republic to take such measures as will safeguard the health of the people and ensure the physical as well as the moral well-being of the Nation.”
If those who wrote the Democratic Programme, and gave their lives in those tumultuous days were to come back and revisit us, I would be confident that they would concern themselves more with the welfare of Irish children in their infirmity than the re-telling of battles fought and atrocities perpetrated a century ago.
More boldly again, the Democratic Programme affirms “that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare”.
A two-tier system
Ireland operates two parallel, yet intertwined healthcare systems, one public and one private.
The private system provides modern, comfortable facilities, and timely, efficient, high-quality access for a reasonable range of medical conditions, which eases the pressure on the public one.
For its part, the republic provides massive direct and indirect subsidises to the private sector.
Directly, the National Treatment Purchase Fund spent €75 million in 2019 purchasing services from the private sector.
Many of the private hospitals in the state availed of generous tax breaks for their construction in the early part of the 21st century.
Indirectly, the private sector benefits greatly from the publicly-delivered training of healthcare staff.
In addition, when patients experience complications in private hospitals, or when those hospitals are full, the patients are transferred across to public hospitals, at no charge to the private hospital.
Also, most private hospitals, particularly those in Dublin have rarely had to worry about recruiting and retaining consultant staff.
They have simply been able to piggyback on the recruitment of high-quality doctors by neighbouring public hospitals and been able to offer them increased earning potential without inconveniences, such as having to provide for their pensions, for example.
Not a bad set of subsidies for these hospitals, all things considered.
Some private hospitals are financially thriving, others are finding the going more difficult, with the Mater Private group for example being reported as having recorded a €23 million loss last year.
Unsurprisingly, elective surgery is not cancelled in private hospitals at the moment.
In spite of what some of my more excitable colleagues may think, nobody is talking about sending in the tanks to seize private hospitals, but could the nationalisation of some or part of these facilities be an option to alleviate our crisis?
This is not without precedent.
Mount Carmel hospital in South Dublin had previously been best-known as the place where the babies of Ireland’s rich and famous came into the world.
However, in 2014, liquidators were appointed by the High Court and the hospital closed its doors.
The minister of the day, James Reilly told the Oireachtas at the time that nationalising the facility would not be workable, yet 6 months later the state did exactly that with the HSE purchasing it from the liquidators for €11 million.
The hospital is now a thriving public facility providing Step Down/Step Up Beds, Transitional Care Beds and Rehabilitation Beds, staffed in partnership with private sector agency Mowlam Healthcare.
Few would argue that the people of the community are not better served by what is there now than what was there before.
Many will argue that the state has proven itself unworthy to run hospitals, but the state is the only game in town when it comes to full-service hospital care.
There are no private maternity hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, stroke units, hospices, or crucially, emergency departments that open 24/7.
Others will baulk at giving the state more hospitals to run when it struggles with the ones it already has, but the truth is the state is planning to build several new elective-care hospitals around the country anyway.
The answer could be simpler
Given our experience with the children’s hospital, would it really be that terrible an idea to think about buying ready-made, currently operational facilities instead as a faster and more efficient means of improving the service?
It may seem unthinkably complicated now, but nationalising the banks was unthinkable once too until we woke up one morning at a time of crisis and it had happened.
The most dangerous thing I see at the moment is the apathy with which we have greeted 760 people on trolleys waiting for beds.
And it is ineffably depressing that we, as a people, are more interested in fighting the battles of the past, rather than honouring the ideals of a republic that were fought for.
James Connolly exhorted us to “draw inspiration not from the mouldering records of the past, but from the glowing hopes of the living present, the vast possibilities of the mighty future”.
We owe it to all of our antecedents, regardless of who they fought with to do better. Radical change is needed.
Dr Anthony O’Connor MD, MRCPI is a Consultant Gastroenterologist at Tallaght Hospital.
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I’m not standing up for the government here but they could not get involved with the Dublin City planners. Sure didn’t we spend millions on tribunals in the past to stop corrupt governments interfering in planning decisions.
Not to mention corrupt councillors and inept county and city managers —-LISSADELL
Your point makes no sense. You want the government to get involve. But then you mention a tribunal which negates what you said at the start.
There is no corruption here. There would have been if the concerts had gone ahead. Mr. Keegan applied the rules which doesn’t happen very often in this society. Pure cowardice if he is hung out to dry.
The problem is Mr. Keegan did NOT apply the rules. If he had done he would have warned all sides as soon as the concerts were announced that they would be in breech of agreements/planning conditions.
He didn’t. Instead he allowed this entire shambles to happen by allowing all sides to proceed on the same basis that ALL concerts in this country get planning permission. And from the minute he engaged with the stakeholders, whatever conditions were to apply, all concerts SHOULD have been granted permission.
So I’m bloody sure I want to know what Mr. Keegan did NOT apply the rules.
I also want to know how many of these planning objections were faked.
But at the end of the day the question I really want answered never will be.
Why have such a tiny minority been allowed to destroy a day out for hundreds of thousands of people while at the same time do enormous economic damage to the locality and the city?
Alan –
Timeline:
Garth Brooks sells out 3 nights in Dublin
Aiken/Garth decided to push it to 5 nights
Garth sells out a further 2 nights
Dublin City Council refuse to sanction further 2 nights, only allowing the original 3
Garth throws his toys out of the pram and cancels them all
Maybe Brooks just isn’t the saint you wish him to be.
Think you may be missing some of the timeline. A lot of processes and discussions went on between selling 2 further concerts and permission being refused.
DCC is a joke, both councillors and managers, this issue should have been highlighted months ago. They get paid far to much money and look at areas such as the north inner city falling apart with litter, junkies etc. and Grafton st a building site for far too long! They’d be far better getting taxes where they can and using them to clean up the city!
Where did I say I wanted the government to get involved
brooks all praise for his irish fans but refused to play for 240000 of them what does that say about him just greedy idiot who thinks about himself
They could intervene for tax breaks for farmers
Spot on, the fool knew in February this mess was en route and kept his gob shut instead of ringing the warning bells then, utterly utterly Irish
Let’s get one thing straight Pedro. I fcuking HATE Brooks and his music.
And your timeline is irrelevant. One Brooks concert would have been, in accordance with that fabled agreement and with apparent planning restrictions placed on Croke Park when it was originally redeveloped, one too many due to the three One Direction concerts in May.
So once again what was Mr. Keegan and his E190,000 per year salary at?
I just heard on the radio that at one stage he was offered 4 nights as a compromise but he stuck to his “5 or nothing” crap. But Alan is right, DCC come across as pure amateurs here. Leaving everything to the last minute and punishing hundreds of thousands of people.
Alan the agreement is between Croke Park/GAA & the residents, not with DCC. If the concerts went ahead the residents would have been able to bring Croke Park/GAA to court for their breach.
So yes, my timeline is relevant.
Would they?
After all this time I have yet to see this agreement written down, notarised and presented as something that has force of law i.e. a contract. An who was it agreed with? Which of the multiple residents’ associations and streets committees agreed or did not agree to it?
They’d have gone to court long ago if they thought whatever agreement they had had the force of law behind it. The injunction sought this week before Brooks pulled out altogether said nothing about any agreement, merely waffle about interference with peoples’ lives going about their business etc.
And anyway you’re completely wrong. They would have been bringing the DCC to court for allowing the concerts as they apparently contravene the original planning permission given when Croke Park was redeveloped.
None of which, of course, answers my question about Mr. Keegan and his actions. But we all know that he cannot account for them because this is a total FUBAR on his part.
Why would you see the agreement? It’s been referred to by both the residents and the GAA, both confirming the 3 concerts per annum quota, what more do you want?
DCC didn’t make the decision on the basis of the agreement, they made the decision because they felt that the residents were right to feel aggrieved. They don’t need an agreement to refuse planning permission…
Well whoever would have been brought to court the bottom line is Aiken applied for planning permission, Aiken were refused planning permission, Garth threw his toys out of the pram.
If fact I’m glad Mr. Keegan & DCC had the balls to stand up to the big business and government pressure that was put on them.
So you are happy to let Keegan off the hook by failing to acknowledge that the man, according to the agreements you claim are in place, shouldn’t have even considered granting permission for one concert, never mind three. He stood up to no one, merely fecked things up beyond all recognition.
And I want to see the ‘agreement’ because nothing has the force of law behind it unless it is in writing and signed by both sides i.e. a contract. A verbal agreement or a handshake isn’t worth a damn when it comes to the law.
And you might remember that it’s all those horrible ‘big businesses’ that provide people with jobs and money in their pockets. FFS
@Ann Whats farmers got to do with anything?
Can we grill TDs for not concentrating on important issues?
It’s things like this that make us appear like a banana republic
The loss of 100-200 million Euro is pretty important.
Those figures are spurious and you know it
€200m? Jesus it was €50m only yesterday
it is a banana republic
Awh shut the fcuk up about Garth Brooks.
I like bananas.
Horse and stable door ! Springs to mind
Appear like one, I suppose a government minister laying out a red carpet, holding out the begging bowl, at Shannon for the likes of Donald Trump, would give you an indication of the type of Republic we are.
appear ‘.. it is a banana republic
64,000,000,000 > 200,000,000 in any case, just a tad
Things like this only make us appear like a banana republic when they happen more than once and we don’t learn from our mistakes.
Holy feck. Now it’s a quarter of a billion euro. LOL.
Keep cancelling them until it gets to 4 or 5 billion, Then we can start issuing licenses.
I heard it was 700 billion euro….are you sure Johnny?
Prob but so many companies are put of pocket it’s crazy burned stock(dunnes etc) everywhere taxi drivers golf courses(husbands) it’s high in millions for sure
Mark –
Projected income does not equal actual income.
People need to relax on the “out of pocket” card, most businesses are no worse of than they were before.
Over 50-100 million to the economy is not an important issue for government? Jes people thinking like you run the country hence the problems we have.
50-100 million lost to the economy. That is not important government issue?? Thousands upon thousands out of pocket, travellers from abroad coming to spend in the economy, job creation….. That’s why we are in the mess we are, comments like yours and a government like we have… Useless and unhelpful.
I heard it was closer to a trillion Mark, crazy stuff.
Ask any city that’s hosted the Olympics or the Super Bowl.
The revenues turn into a net loss in a big hurry.
Ah, take a chill pill Mark K. Projections are always so accurate nes pas?
At least west Clare got €20m or so unlike those idiots in Dublin !
No more time should be wasted on this arrogant arse bandit
Well said JJ. More time, energy and probably wasted on someone who turned his back of 250,000 fans because that wasn’t enough.
Always nice seeing homophobic slurs broadly approved of on the journal
And Fianna Fáil haven’t changed, they’re still backing self interest as they always have.
Is that John “Sh ite in a bucket” Joyce.
??? Self interest ??? The interests of 400,000 fans more likely
scandalous that the Journal does not remove a clearly liable and homophobic comment after 7 hours. site has really gone to the dogs
It’s pathetic to think that the promoters just added 2 extra dates without seeking some assurances. They’ve been bitten by their own greed and as for Brooks: it’s money above fans. He’s an ignorant hick!
Even more pathetic to think that the country couldn’t hold five concerts without the Dublin City Council messing up.
As I understand it they did seek assurances and the council or manager (not sure which is to blame) went back on their word. They needed assurances in any case as all 5 dates were sold subject to licence
I hope that this doesn’t end up in the courts and the taxpayers picking up the tab….again!!
Doesn’t matter now it’s history
Why would the taxpayer pick up the tab if it ends up in court?
Because dublin city council us funded by tax payers
As I understand it, they approved 3 concerts as they were originally asked. And then the promoters went back on their word and sold out Croker for two more.
As I understand it, the Croker was to have only 3 concerts per year, and they had ALREADY had 3 concerts this year with those girly boys.
As I understand it, the promoters were given an inch and took a mile (or for those of you not imperialistically inclined, they were given 25.4mm and took 1.60934km).
It’ll end up in court in America, perhaps. The concerts were cancelled by Garth Brooks.
Of course it will ! Brooks will sue Akins & Akins will sue Dublin CC & Keegan!
Everyone seems to be missing the key point “subject to licensing” … it was advertised that it was subject to licensing and says it on the small print tickets. Its not going to end up in court anywhere.
While the TD’s are wasting their time over a concert, I’d like to know why my uncle who has a long history with mental illness has been waiting 6 weeks now for contact from the mental health services. One of those weeks which was spent in hospital where a medical doctor took it upon himself to change his psychiatric medicine despite pleas from his family not to change them without a consult from a psychiatrist. Then discharged him in such a condition that he was unfunctuning and I spent the next 2 weeks watching him spiral into a very bad place, untill his own GP (still awaiting the discharge letter from the hospital) put him back on the medicine he was originally on.
Carina I agree whole heartedly . Hope your uncle and all of your family are okay .
Send in the clowns…. They’ll get to the bottom of this.
Good old Enda, now the twit has a comment, closing the stable door when the cowboy has left.
You know it, Pat. Government are delighted with this fiasco. It takes heat off them. Simple as that. He’s ringing his hands watchin this.
All this fuss over a fat cowboy with a dodgy beard, nice to see people concentrating on the importand issues!
thats what i thought gus, but it sells papers and distracts people from real issues. If anyone ever needed evidence of a collusion of government and media working together to keep the public passive and distracted..then this is it!
The clowns have been in there for ages ; it’s time to get them out morelike ! They’re not funny anymore…..
Can we all please move the fu*k on with our lives and forget about this. I’ve already put my hat & spurs back in the attic.
Ted, if we don’t learn from our mistakes then we are doomed to repeat them…
But Fozz this is “unprecedented” “once in a lifetime” etc etc
The whole crux of this matter is allowing the ticket seller and promoter to offer tickets on sale for unlicensed events. It’s nuts, how much has Aiken made over the years from this. Seems a good business, get the licence after your bank account is full. Legislation on the sale of unlicensed events required. Licence first, sales then allowed.
Well as Aiken has pointed out, tickets have to go on sale 3-4 months prior to the event. In this case, even if the three concerts were to have gone ahead, the license was only issued last week. That gives concert goers about 2-3 weeks to scramble for tickets, transports (in some cases involving overseas travel), accommodation, everything else (e.g. time off work). Just think too about the pressure that that puts on hotels, guest houses, everyone involved in the hospitality trade. It would be sheer insanity. So it was right to put the tickets on sale when they did. It just makes life easier on everyone.
Of course, you could make the sale of tickets conditional upon having a license. The license application process however, takes about 10 weeks, or so we are told and that’s after all the paperwork has been lodged. So really, you would need about 20-30 weeks of advanced preparation. In some cases, and this was one I am sure, there simply isn’t that much time. With those restrictions in place, and with the benefit of hindsight, Aiken promotions would probably have had to just say ‘no’ when the concert proposal was first muted. In all likelihood, that is what will happen in future – Ireland just won’t be at the races where staging top international acts is concerned. That is just the reality.
Oscar, Aiken makes the argument to suit his position. Obviously the GAA grounds at Croke Park have limitations regarding the number of events versus impact on the local community. So the venue chosen was not appropriate for these reasons. The blame committees can convene, however regulated venues and effective licensing regulation will prevent recurrence. It seems in this case that the performers or promoters strategy to force the regulators hand on 5 performances backfired. It’s all about money at the end of the day.
bull poop oscar ! aiken would be well aware that there were restrictions on the number of concert allowed at crokepark, as were the g.a.a, but as usual in this country they thought they could just do as they liked , take the money and bully people into accepting the 5 concerts. i’m glad dcc made the decision in favour of the residents ,its high time the people of this country were put before the greed of big business, political interests , and government sponsored sporting groups . everyone who had tickets for these events should sue aiken promotions for breach of contract or fraud , they did after all sell tickets for a non existing event ! if it takes 6 -8 months to organise these things and get the proper licences then they should have applied earlier and done it properly,instead they held on until they knew the’d sell the place out and (like the bondholders) tried their luck, only this time it didnt go in their favour.
Kings of Leon one of the biggest acts currently touring. They were here not too long ago. They seemed to have enjoyed themselves.
@Pat. That’s a very narrow minded view. Firstly, all gigs in Ireland are on sale before license is granted. It is not Aiken only. The current legislation allows for that. Secondly, a world tour needs to be planned in advance. Well in advance. Think about logistics. The bigger the name, the more gear to be moved and set-up around the world. Venues must be agreed etc. It is absolutely crazy to think that any artist can organize everything last minute.
Also anyone who said that “well sure Garth can play 3 gigs now and 2 at the end of the tour” displays an utter lack of basic business knowledge. That set-up would double the logistic costs and for sure would have made no financial sense.
Country music is definitely not my taste but I have to say Ireland scored a spectacular own goal. Well done lads!!! That’s what you get when you elect average Joe’s to run a country!
“Aiken makes the argument to suit his positiion”
“It’s all about money at the end of the day.”
From the tone of your comments, I take it you disapprove of that sort of thing!
No, just have a head on my shoulders.
I am disappointed for the fans however why was a licence only applied for at the end of April when the tickets were sold in January?
It smacks of trying to force the deal through at the last minute.
Can we move on and get over this now. Everyone is sick of reading about it now.
Then stop clicking on the articles? They’re being posted because they draw far more attention than most of the other articles.
Ireland vying to hold the Rugby World Cup when it can’t even string along five concerts. The Dublin City Council will pay for all of this.
I don’t think the Rugby World Cup organisers will suddenly try to stage a bunch of extra games to make a bit more money despite agreements already in place.
It shows a lack of organisational abilities on Ireland’s part. They’d be mad to give it to us after what has happened over the past month or so.
This will be used by every competitor of Ireland to host events in the future… It introduces risk… We should have shown that we either stop the thing in its tracks from day one or we let go ahead…
We just shot ourselves in the foot… Let the thing go ahead… Simple way to do this is to bring all parties and suggest Croke park spend €1m on the local area for something.
If they get no agreement from the residents, just make Croke Park the National Outdoor Arena with no need for planning for the next 5 years…
Stop making us a laughing stock and show we are open for business…
Ah here, we’re completely losing the run of ourselves if we’re comparing Garth Brooks to the Rugby World Cup…
Peter Aiken was on radio one this morning he said that he spoke with the county manager when they cancelled the two shows he was told by him that 4 concerts would be permitted, he then contacted Garth manager that night to tell him the news. The following morning City council issued a press release saying that only 3 concerts could go ahead. .
He added that he was in talks/negations all the way with Dublin City council….The whole thing was a shambles. A lack of communication in my opinion being the main problem.
Let’s take what Peter Aiken says with a generous pinch of salt
Absolutely Leopold Dedalus. He’s pointing the finger everywhere else trying to save face. He messed this up and he knows it.
Well said tom, if it turns out that city manager has been responsible for this not going ahead he should be removed from office very quickly, all the businesses that would have benefitted from this should react by refusing to pay rates until he resigns, certain ego that comes with power of holding keys to the gate of Dublin springs to mind
Fair play to ticketmaster for refunding the service charge too, they have earned some respect from me at last.
Fair play to them
Owen Keegan better watch his back because FFerTimmy Dooley is already on record as being four square behind the GAA and Brooks, even stooping so low to write his Garth Brooks Emergency Bill, like the gombeen that he is. Dooley is trying to set Keegan up, his inner gombeen is raging that the gigs aren’t going ahead and his buddies in the LVA and IHF are demanding a public humiliation of the City Manager for making a fair decision.
Totally agree ICR. Parish pump politics and FF to the fore. Utter gombeens.
If the articles are going to continue, can there be one about when people will get their money back? As that’s all ticket holders want to see at this stage.
What a joke.
There is already an article all about how to get your money back.
how many millions of euro will be pumped back into Ireland with this cash refund?
That article actually doesn’t say how people will get the money back. It just says that they will issue a statement with how.
Anyway, doesn’t matter now because I got an e-mail about 5 mins ago saying it would be back on the credit card in 7-10 incl booking fee.
Nail on head John
NOW it’s getting political. No politician could get involved before this . Where is Leo now? He was wheeled out for every departmental disaster and now it is his tourism departments problem.
Now that’s what you call an a***ole!! Hope he’s lost all them fans…
Indeed we need to get to the bottom of this and find out why the DCC has stopped taking brown envelopes. It threatens the very core of the political system here in Ireland.
Why is it the DCC failed to cave in to threats made by the money interests?
Have they no respect for the gouging hotel business?
The poor publicans who will go out of business now? Oh wait, it was the smoking ban that…oh no, it was the drink-driving legislation…oh wait…it was the Garth Brooks decision.
Why oh why oh why did the Dublin City Council stop taking bribes? What is the world coming to?
Well, at least we have the core political process intact in Leinster house.
If money is the root of all evil, then certainly we have roots in Ireland.
Keegan is to blame for most of it as he was too cowardly to take on the cranks, he was afraid he would be taken to court. He and the rest of the d city council should be sued for all the money lost.
if only the members of the dail had paid this much attention to the bailout and the promissory note we might have avoided years of debt and austerity! its a poxy country and western concert –get over it ffs !
5 in a row is fair hard to do old Garth buddy up in Croker . Just ask Kerry and us down in kilkenny
Proving to be even more difficult for us down in Carlow.
A lot of shinner comments today trying to keep attention for lack of action from the largest party in Dublin city council namely Sinn Fein not forgetting the new race of independents.
Have you actually followed what has been going on with the whole fiasco. It was the decision of the city manger and the councillors themselves were not in control of the decision. But don’t let the facts get in the way of your rant, clown!
Mustard a good name for a fool shinner.
“Mustard a good name for a fool shinner.”
So we’ll take that as a “No, I haven’t been following what has been going on…”
If this is how Ireland reacts to cancellation of a few concerts, imagine how we’d react if someone tried to impose €70bn debt on us. Oh wait…
It’s the first time in my life I can say I am embarrassed to be irish , we are a joke to the rest of the world . Read what the editor of Hot Press has to say on all of this fiasco.
Ann I’m embarrassed that you are Irish, and f*ck what the editor of Hot Press has to say. Jeez, get a bit of cop on and a bit of perspective. If you are keen on being “ashamed to be Irish” there are a lot more important things to be ashamed about.
Jaysus, who reads Hot Press…
What is it with these Country & Western fans?
I thought they loved misery…..
Pity they weren’t as quick to set up the banking enquiry!
Aiken breaky hart..I washed out all of my roots and put on my hurling boots but Gareth wont come to town he says he threw out his pram before his toys reached the ground.
.
The only thing embarrasing about this is the fact our government are talking about it. We have our leader talking about some American country singer who acted like a kid not getting his own way. I wonder would Barak Obama be going mad if a band was cancelled in America? Small country mentality, embarrasing
I’m deleting the journal app. Asta La Vista baby!
Well said John Joyce . Spot on
Proud to be Irish????
When the horse has left the stable start an enquiry, usual story. How much more of this shit does the people of Ireland have to endure.
It was just about a fat cowboy singing in the middle of a field, the sun will still rise in the morning and we’ll still put our strides on one leg at a time.
The only useful Brooks article out of a 1000.
I’m actually quite impressed at how many articles you have managed to get out of what is essentially this:
Garth Brooks sells out 3 nights in Dublin
Aiken/Garth decided to push it to 5 nights
Garth sells out a further 2 nights
Dublin City Council refuse to sanction further 2 nights, only allowing the original 3
Garth throws his toys out of the pram and cancels all
Siúcra, that comment was meant to be on the “how to get refunded” article…. Add this article to the rest of the useless Brooks tripe…
Please Pedro ; what will the people read if everything is stripped down to the bare bones …. besides you would have to go through the Naked Emperor bit to get there and no-one wants to go there – not yet anyways !
Well Ticketmaster just emailed re a refund. Will be processed next Tue. Give it up Timmy it is over.
“We’re sorry for your loss. Move on”
Talk about shutting the stable door, after the cowboy’s bolted …
Too late for the blame game now.Damage done !!!
Four Garth Brooks stories and its not even midday!
Why don’t we just get Daniel to play the three nights …..it’s all the same anyway isn’t it – that country music ?
Yeah its all rubbish
Dimmy Tooley must have nothing better to do than shill for his idol Gart.
Get a proper job, Dimmy.
We ye all get over it and move on. He does not deserve to enter the country. Congratulations to the residence association. I salute you and don’t listen to these bitter people pressuring ye. :-)
I still think that whoever is responsible for this situation should be charged with paying out compensations for lost revenue to the tourism industry. Hotels were refusing businesses to accommodate people of course making money but still this is too big to just let it go.
Point ALL the fingers you want! We F $#ked up as a nation! Tough Titties!!
this fat cowboy says it would be like giving up two of his children and he couldn’t do it then he gives up 3 more get to be f@@@ed garth
a great boost for the economy, all this money that would have ended up in an American bankaccount will now go back into Irish bank accouns
this is getting outta control nobody cares anymore!
Fact 1 – Ireland is bankrupt
Fact 2 – This concert would have generated a lot of revenue and positive international recognition
Fact 3 – Local residents suffer noise pollution and have rights
Can we really not compromise and collaborate for the greater good of our country? No winners here.
Pretty much every thing of artistic value in this country has been ruined by govt involvement. Look at the fiasco in Limerick not so long ago. This government is by far the worst government in the history of teh state. they’ve been shown up time and time again to be a shower of tits.
So Dublin City Council can make a decision and there is no chance of appeal? Pretty much everything in todays world has an appeal process..looks like they are law to themselves
“A province once again, a province once again, and Ireland long a nation be a province once again”!!! Pathetic!!! Would that Saint Patrick might come back and banish all the gombeens from this island of ours!!!!!
Just reading about this shit€ for the first time.
My 2 cents….
Concerts should not be sold without license.
Brooks is a greedy hasbeen who let his fans down badly
I got Loom Bands in Low Places… Spend your refund on something constructive.. http://www.loombandsireland.com
That’s what they used to purchase Manhattan Island in New York. Fair and square.
Well at least it’s nice to know that the government are tackling real issues for a change. I was getting pretty fed up hearing about health services and debt etc… it’s a nice change to have something real to read about in the news.
Cant introduce emergency legislation?? What did they do several years back? Starts with a B….
Could they not just have changed the venue ? Or is that a really stupid question?
Happen to know of any other 80,000 seater stadiums available on two weeks notice?
But if a venue is not 100% guaranteed should there not be a contingency plan in the even of some rubbish like this happening?
Maybe but there is a massive (and by massive I mean absolutely f’ing huge) amount of logistics involved.
The best way to look at it is that these are music events being held in sports stadiums. Sport is the priority for the stakeholders of the stadiums so an awful lot of boxes need to ticked before anything is approved, not something that can be done on short notice. For example, if hypothetically it was to be moved to the Aviva, you can bet your bottom dollar its not something the IRFU would pass in short notice.
Totally agree with you there good point, what is a capacity at Phoenix park I wonder.
Yeah but it was to be move the Phoenix Park the tens of thousands of seated tickets for each night become a major problem…
If it was a smaller stadium it would be easier but as Croke Park is so huge it makes things all the more complicated – its the 5th largest stadium in Europe, 32nd in the world.
Oh no, Pedro, it’s de biggest and de best in the entire, whole world. I heard it on RTE (about a million times).
thank god he pulled the plug. GB is a man of his word. Only losers here are the fans. If i bought a house near croke park i would expect it to be used for concerts and events and why not sure its a fine example of what we have to offer. Croker and the event management should be sound proofing there houses around the streets with in a reasonable distance and putting in cctv cameras for trouble makers. No cop on here at all …. every one could have been on a win win but not in this little corrupt country. Garth should have played for 7 nights im not a fan but the demand was there.
This whole saga will make a great country song someday.
At least the songs for karaoke are sorted.
Aikens… The Gambler
GAA… Harper Valley GAA
DCC.. Red Strokes
The Fans… Blue eyes Crying in the Rain.
Its not over till the fat cowboy sings…………….
Ooooooooooow!!! A slap on the wrist for y’all.
Just issue the refunds and move on(I’m expecting 2 ticket refunds)..all concerned are a disgrace,learn,change the rules or just don’t bother holding any future concerts in croke park!..looking forward to 5pm tomorrow to hear what mr brooks has to say on the matter!…
Its a FU#@ING concert… (was)
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