Lisdoonvarna music festival fails to gain licence from council

Plans to restage the Lisdoonvarna music festival after 20 years were last night turned down by Clare Co Council.

Aiken Promotions had planned that Christy Moore would "ride on" again at a one-day concert at Lisdoonvarna on June 28th. The proposed concert was expected to attract some 25,000 music fans.

An estimated 13,000 tickets had been sold and the organisers had spent €250,000 in planning and marketing the concert. However, last night the council refused a licence for the event after locals in the Doolin area objected.

The decision is understood to be the first time a local authority has issued a refusal under the recently introduced licensing system for outdoor music events.

There is no right to appeal the decision.

The council stated: "The scale and level of activity, traffic movements, noise and general disturbance and inconvenience that would result from the event would exceed that considered acceptable by the council for this rural neighbourhood and would, as a result, seriously injure the residential amenities of property in the vicinity."

Last night Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions said the company was disappointed, pointing out that in six months of meetings it received nothing but encouragement. A statement read: "an alternative venue will be announced within the next 72 hours", and that tickets already purchased would be valid for the new venue.