Ireland

Gardaí billed promoters more than €300,000 for policing Garth Brooks concerts and Electric Picnic

Of the €7.613m paid by companies for Garda assistance over the past year, MCD paid €1.23m

Fans at one of the five Garth Brooks concerts held in Croke Park, Dublin last September. It was the largest bill paid to An Garda Síochána for policing last year. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Ken Foxe
Wed Jul 12 2023 - 20:55

An Garda Síochána recouped more than €7.6 million from concert promoters, sporting bodies and event organisers for policing duties over the past year.

The largest bill was the €380,000 paid by Aiken Promotions in respect of the five dates by country artist Garth Brooks at Croke Park in Dublin last September. Electric Picnic organiser Festival Republic paid the force €349,000 for policing services at the festival during the same month.

Last July, promoter MCD paid €254,000 for services at the Longitude Festival in Dublin’s Marlay Park. A similar bill was paid by the National Ploughing Championships for their three-day event at Ratheniska, Co Laois, last September.

A sum of €207,000 was received by the Garda from MCD for the Harry Styles concert at Slane Castle last month, according to records released under the Freedom of Information Act.

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Other events that secured significant payments for the force were the Irish Open golf tournament at Mount Juliet (€147,000) and the All Together Now festival in Waterford (€117,000).

Separate bills of about €80,000 were paid by MCD for concerts at Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium, and a €35,000 bill was sent to the GAA for policing the All-Ireland football final between Kerry and Galway last July.

Of the €7.613 million paid by companies for Garda assistance over the past year, €1.23 million was paid by MCD. Some €1.1 million was received from Mar-Train Heavy Haulage, who transport “abnormal loads” like wind turbines and other difficult-to-move cargo.

Concert promoter Aiken Promotions paid a total of €731,047 for its events while the IRFU provided €296,997 for policing at various rugby games since last summer.

Gardaí said non-public duty was performed by officers at football matches, concerts, race meetings and other events where they would not normally be assigned.

“This work is normally performed by members who would otherwise be off duty,” the Garda said in an information note. “It is generally the practice to charge organisations for the costs of duties performed by members inside the event.”

Gardaí said, in general, duties outside events such as traffic control, beat patrol and other public policing were paid from Garda funds. “However, at some specific larger events, An Garda Síochána seeks a contribution from the promoters to overall policing costs.”

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