Garth Brooks-Style Showdown Looms As Croke Park Residents Oppose Fourth Summer Concert

Earlier today, Aiken Promotions announced plans to hold a concert at Croke Park on Thursday May 17 of this year. If it goes ahead it would be the first of four gigs taking place at GAA HQ this summer but local residents have now spoken out against the plans.

Croke Park currently holds planning permission to to host three special events per year and Patrick Gates of Clonliffe and Croke Park Area Residents Association told RTÉ Six One this evening that an additional show would bring a significant burden to the area. A message was also posted on the Association's Facebook page outlining the opposition.

He said:

"We support the conditions of three events.

"We don't support any additional because that brings additional burden, additional disturbance to the community and we don't think that it's fair.

"There's a lot of games played at Croke Park, to have three concerts, and I don't think it's fair to impose further disruption on the community."

Residents received a notice on Thursday morning from stadium director Peter McKenna, informing them of the plans. The three concerts already confirmed for this year are Taylor Swift on June 15 and 16 and Michael Bublé on July 7.

In 2014, residents objected to the staging of two additional Garth Brooks concerts after the singer had already booked three dates at the venue. This led to a prolonged dispute resulting in Brooks pulling out of all scheduled gigs.