‘Hoedown’ to proceed instead of Garth Brooks shows

Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Tourism will tomorrow announce a series of festival events in Dublin on the dates the Garth Brooks concerts were to take place.

Minister for Tourism Michael Ring said he was disappointed about the concert cancellations and would have liked to see the shows happen. He said his office and Fáilte Ireland were working on a plan to salvage the situation. The plan will be unveiled at 11am tomorrow.

“We have to move on now from the Garth Brooks concerts. We are planning a number of festival events around the days of the concert,” he said.

The events will feature country music and the plan is to specifically target people who had booked accommodation for the shows.

“Some people from abroad will be coming to Ireland and many people from other parts of the country have booked a hotel. We are encouraging them to come to Dublin, as there is lots to do and see there,” he said.

Fáilte Ireland's Dublin director Orla Carroll echoed the sentiment.

“We were very disappointed for the industry and also for the people who were going to go to the concerts. Our concern as well was there were 70,000 people coming from overseas to the concerts,” she said.

She said Fáilte Ireland was working to put on free music and promote other things that are on in Dublin, adding that it will be a “bit of a hoedown”.