Keegan told GAA he was ‘supportive’ of five Garth Brooks concerts

Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan has admitted he told Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna last February he would be "supportive" of five Garth Brooks concerts at Croke Park.

However he told an Oireachtas committee yesterday that “at no stage” did he advise Mr McKenna the council would license five shows.

Mr Keegan was before the Dáil transport and communications committee for a second time this week to explain the council’s decision to license three of the five concerts planned for Croke Park at the end of this month, for which 400,000 tickets had been sold. Brooks formally announced the cancellation of all his Croke Park concerts last Monday and ticket refunds have been issued.

Addressing the committee last Tuesday, GAA director general Páraic Duffy said before to the submission of a licence application earlier this year, Mr McKenna had a phone conversation with Mr Keegan during which Mr Keegan said the council would “support a licence application for all five”.

Mr Keegan yesterday said he told Mr McKenna he would be supportive of five concerts, as he would always be positive about events which could benefit the city . “I fully accept that I did indicate that I would support the five,” he said.

However he said this was not the same as saying the concerts would get licences. “I gave absolutely no assurance, nor could I have given any assurance at that stage, that all five concerts would be licensed because no event licence application had been submitted in respect of the concerts.”

He said he made it clear his support was conditional on the “legitimate concerns” of residents being taken into account. He said there was a subsequent failure by the GAA and Aiken Promotions to address these concerns.

“If they had made an enormous effort with the residents, it might have been possible, it should have been possible, to get residents’ support.”

If residents’ support had been secured, “it would have been possible to give a licence” for the five shows, he said. However, he says that effort was not made.

The conversation with Mr McKenna took place at the beginning of February. A meeting was held with Mr Aiken on February 12th where Mr Keegan was accompanied by the council’s executive manager for planning, Jim Keogan, and licensing officer John Downey. At this meeting Mr Aiken was told five concerts would be “a big ask”.

Fianna Fáil tourism spokesman Timmy Dooley asked if the council had given any consideration to the artist involved when considering the impact on residents. "We're not talking about Metallica here. It's not going to be a big rave."

Mr Keogan said it was not the specific artist performing, but the fact there would be five consecutive night-time events, which represented an over-intensification of use of the stadium.

Ticketmaster said at close of business last night some 190,000 tickets had been refunded and customers should allow seven to 10 working days for the refund to take effect.