Garth Brooks Fiasco a ‘Bad Day for Ireland Inc.’ – FF

Fianna Fáil Tourism Spokesperson Timmy Dooley TD has reacted to the news that all five of the upcoming Garth Brooks concerts have now been cancelled.

Deputy Dooley commented, “The decision of Garth Brooks and his promotions company to cancel all five of their upcoming concerts at Croke Park is another very disappointing development in a process that has descended into utter fiasco.

“No one should be in any doubt about the damage that has been done here.  Ireland is a country that has worked very hard over many years to promote itself as a tourism venue, and until recently we used to understand very well the marketing power of music events packaged under the ‘Live in Dublin’ brand.  With this debacle we have shot ourselves in the foot in a pretty spectacular way.  This is a bad day for Ireland Inc.

“It did not have to come to this.  Fianna Fáil took legal advice when this mess started to unfold and quickly published a bill that would have allowed a proper review of the decision of Dublin City Council.  Government refused to take any action and instead sought to misrepresent what we were trying to do.  Instead, they sat back, allowed stated Government policy to be undermined without challenge and now we see the result.

“This failure to understand the seriousness of the underlying issue has left a lot of ticketholders very disappointed this evening.  But perhaps even more importantly it has caused damage that will last beyond the timeframe of these Garth Brooks concerts.”