New concert licensing regulations to protect Marley residents – Mitchell

“New licensing regulations will help to protect the residents around Marley Park by tightening the requirements for holding concerts,” says Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown, Olivia Mitchell.

“New regulations launched today by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, bring about a long awaited overhaul of event licensing regulations in this country. The new rules will tighten up the requirements for holding concerts and put an emphasis on consultation with the relevant local authority.

“Under the new regulations it is going to be mandatory for event promoters to have a pre-application consultation meeting with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council prior to submitting an event licence application for Marley Park. Event licence applications will not be accepted by the Council unless a pre-application consultation meeting has already taken place with the event promoter. Furthermore, event promoters will not be entitled to advertise or sell tickets for events prior to the holding of the pre-application consultation meeting with the Council.

“The Marley Park concerts have been great in terms of driving revenue to the area but I do understand the concerns that have arisen among local residents. I know that the number of concerts held in recent years has been of particular concern to residents. Under the new regulations, where it is proposed to add performances to a schedule already announced, a further pre-application consultation meeting will be required to take place before the announcement of any additional dates.

“These new regulations stand to benefit everyone. We want to encourage a certain number of concerts in Marley per year, but it must be done in a regulated way with robust procedures in place to protect local residents.”