The ruling by the Supreme Court that occasional pop concerts can take place at Lansdowne Road without planning permission has resulted in calls to the Government to introduce a licensing system for such events.
The court's decision also opens the way for Croke Park and the RDS to hold concerts without planning permission. However, the court said it had nothing to "say" about smaller venues.
This overruled the High Court which had agreed with a claim by Dublin Corporation that planning permission was necessary.
Yesterday's decision came as a bitter disappointment to some of the residents of Lansdowne Road who have opposed the rugby headquarters being given a free hand on the holding of concerts.
However, not all the residents in the vicinity of the stadium are against the concerts. Residents contacted last night were not prepared to comment on the matter. A terse "no comment" was the usual reply. Those opposed had objected on the grounds of noise, inconvenience with trucks, floodlighting late into the night and general disruption.
At the time of the High Court hearing in July 1997, one resident said: "The objection is to the IRFU trying to run roughshod over us and not to U2 concerts."
Welcoming the judgment, Mr Sean Haughey TD said the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, must now "fine-tune" the law and exempt all outdoor concerts from the planning system in the context of his current review of the planning process.
He also called on the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, to introduce a licensing system without delay for such concerts in order to streamline the present position following the Supreme Court ruling.
Such a system could adequately accommodate legitimate concerns of local residents and other interested parties. He said the present cumbersome system did not prevail in any other EU state and Ireland had been losing major concerts to the UK.
In August 1997 Mr Shane Cleary, chief executive of the RDS, also said it was a matter which the Government should deal with urgently. A system whereby each event was granted a licence by the local authority was a possible solution.
The first major blow to large outdoor concert venues came in June 1995 when the High Court ruled that the staging of the Feile festival at Mondello Park, Co Kildare, would constitute "development" and required planning permission.
Ms Jacqueline Taylor, managing director of Mondello Park, said she was pleased with the decision. It had an appeal pending which was due to be heard soon and she hoped to be able to hold concerts in the future.