Ex-garda to examine Streisand event

Concert promoter MCD said today it has set up a "specialist committee" chaired by by former Garda commissioner Pat Byrne to examine…

Concert promoter MCD said today it has set up a "specialist committee" chaired by by former Garda commissioner Pat Byrne to examine last weekend's concert by Barbra Streisand in Co Kildare.

Many people who attended the event were angry at what they claimed was poor organisation, and some concert-goers said they arrived at the event in Castletown House to find their seats - for which they had paid substantial sums of money - taken by others.

There were also criticisms of the decision to open just one of four available entrances to the grounds of the castle, a step that some people believed created traffic problems.

Some of those at the concert had paid over €500 per ticket but claimed that when they got to the event there were no stewards to direct them to their seats. In some cases, the numbers on the seats had washed off, and other people had claimed the seats.

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After complaints surfaced in Sunday's newspapers, MCD blamed bad weather and "opportunistic" fans who took reserved seats for the chaos.

MCD said today it had set up "a specialist committee to conduct a thorough examination of the issues affecting concert-goers" arising from Saturday night's concert. However, the company said it had received just 127 complaints to date from the 17,000 attendance.

It had acknowledged 95 per cent of all complaints and all further complaints will be dealt with "promptly", it added.

"A statement apologising to affected fans that were at the show, acknowledging a number of issues relating to traffic, car parking and seating arrangements, was issued publicly within hours of the concert taking place [Sunday morning]," the statement said.

The committee to investigate the issues will also include Michael Slattery of Slattery & Associates; Julian Davis, communications consultant on Special Olympics World Games; and Denis Desmond and Justin Green of MCD.

The committee will hold its first meeting this week, and MCD expects its work will be completed by "early September".

"MCD again wishes to apologise to all fans affected by Saturday night's events and ensures the issues will be dealt with effectively and efficiently by the specialist committee," the statement said.

MCD asked concerned concert-goers to write to Denis Desmond, 7, Park Road, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.