U2 would like to stage a second concert in Slane but foot-and-mouth disease may prevent them from doing so, the band's manager has said. Speaking after the band began its Elevation tour in Florida, Mr Paul McGuinness told RTE that while the Irish authorities were moving in the direction of facilitating a second concert, the disease outbreak in the Republic had to be taken into consideration.
"We're up for it [a second concert in Slane]. The law has to be enacted for that even to be possible. But it looks as if the powers that be are moving in that direction.
"Foot-and-mouth disease is obviously a problem as well, and we'll all have to wait and see what happens about that," Mr McGuinness told RTE news.
Meanwhile, other towns have said they would be willing to offer U2 an alternative venue to hold a concert should the foot-and-mouth crisis pass.
Cllr Cliff Reid from Athy puts the Co Kildare town forward as one possibility. Its county showground can hold 80,000 people "and that's leaving three or four fields empty", he says.
Mr Reid is confident that Athy, situated on a main road and with a railway station, could put on a show to rival that on the River Boyne.
"[Lord] Mount Charles would be afraid that if Athy gets the U2 concert, people will see what it has to offer," he says. In Mayo, the public relations officer of Castlebar Mitchells GAA says its stadium could take up to 60,000 people and planning permission has already been granted.
"We are ready to go and the plans for the show could start tomorrow," said Mr Finian Joyce.
He says Castlebar might not have the mystique of Slane but access to it is good. "We could hold our hands up and say `yes, we could put on as good a performance as Slane has done', ".
Slane has no rail link and the one road north and south remains thronged long after concerts end.
However, 2FM DJ Dave Fanning, who has attended every concert at Slane, said other towns would have difficulty recreating the atmosphere. "The natural amphitheatre aspect of it is over-hyped but it's over-hyped because it works," he says of Slane.
"That and the backdrop of the Boyne and the castle give it a feeling that is quite simply unique."
If the venue has a general appeal, Mr McGuinness says it is even more so for U2. "It's very important to us; we opened the first show for Thin Lizzy and recorded The Unforgettable Fire there," he told The Irish Times recently.
He says the band have been friends of Lord Mount Charles ever since that day in 1981.
A spokesman for promoters MCD says a concert at Slane is "more than a concert, its an experience".