A man has calculated that it is €200 cheaper to fly to Rome to see Bruce Springsteen play next year rather than going to Dublin for a concert and spending the night in a hotel, the Dáil has heard.
Sinn Féin deputy leader Pearse Doherty said a caller to Ocean FM named Steven explained that the cost of attending a Dublin Springsteen show and staying in a hotel for the night was “so expensive that he looked at alternatives”.
“He found that it’s €200 cheaper for the concert ticket, the flight and a night in Rome than it is to travel up the road to Dublin and stay a night here in a hotel after the concert,” Mr Doherty said. “So Steven and his friends are flying off to Rome to see Bruce Springsteen in the Circus Maximus instead of the RDS, replacing one circus for another.”
[ Fans furious as Bank of Ireland app scuppers purchases of Springsteen ticketsOpens in new window ]
Springsteen is due to perform three concerts at the RDS next May.
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Mr Doherty said Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan wanted people to travel less, but “because of the accommodation crisis in this city, it’s making people travel more”.
“You couldn’t make this up. What is the Government going to do about the rip-off hotel prices that are being charged in this city?” he asked.
In response, Mr Ryan acknowledged that hotel prices were “a real issue” and said “it’s not good for Dublin”.
[ Frank McNally on how Bruce Springsteen concerts became a luxury productOpens in new window ]
“It’s not good for anyone and it does have to stop. We have to find ways in which it’s not so expensive. It’s difficult, it’s not an easy challenge,” he said.
Mr Ryan said Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin and the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar would work on the issue, adding that tourism was one of the State’s most important industries, bringing about €6 billion into the country every year. He said high prices would, in the long-run, “kill the industry”.
