THE ORGANISERS of the upcoming Prince concert, the fourth gig planned for Croke Park this year, have applied for a licence to stage the event, as the stadium has planning permission for only three concerts a year.
This is the first time that four music concerts are scheduled to take place at Croke Park under its 1992 planning permission.
Stadium director Peter McKenna said promoter MCD has applied for permission under the licensing regulations introduced to facilitate the two U2 concerts at Slane Castle in 2001.
The regulations allow promoters to stage "one-off" events on greenfield sites that do not normally host music events so promoters do not have to wait a considerable period of time for permission to be granted through the planning process. Mr McKenna said that under the original 1992 planning permission granted for the revamped Croke Park, the stadium was limited to staging three music concerts a year.
However, he said a licence for the Prince concert had been applied for at the start of this year and he was hopeful that, given the stadium's experience at hosting such events, the concert would receive a licence for the event.
Mr McKenna said the licensing process was "very involved" and would take 12 weeks for a decision to be made, with Dublin City Council often seeking further logistical information from the organisers. "I would be optimistic that we have an awful lot of experience in running concerts and we have a track record in running shows."
A spokesman for MCD said the company had to apply for a licence to hold all its outdoor concerts, including those staged at Croke Park, the RDS, Marlay Park and Malahide Castle in Dublin.
The Prince concert is due to be held on June 16th. Tickets range in price from €66.50 to €125.50, excluding handling fees.