Report >> 4. Findings & Conclusions

In arriving at our conclusions the committee engaged in a process of gathering information from all relevant sources, in so far as was possible, and within a time frame that was necessary to ensure that answers and recommendations would be available to consumers, consumer agencies and MCD at the earliest opportunity. This we strived to do.

Taking the complaints into account as our primary source of information, and adding to them through a process of engagement with all the key people involved in the process of putting the concert together, we believe that these conclusions give a true and accurate assessment of the causes and reason for the complaints on the night.

The conclusions we have reached will not make for easy reading for MCD, however in view of the request for a fully transparent report, we believe that MCD, being the professional organisation it is, will benefit in the long term for insisting on such a report.

Nor will it be easy reading for some of the patrons on the night, who, by their behaviour, were responsible for certain aspects of the general difficulties. We suspect that some might deny any misbehaviour by any patrons, however the committee is quite convinced and has satisfied itself that all the mistakes were not on MCD's side.

The Barbra Streisand concert was billed as a once in a lifetime experience, a concert that was promoted by MCD and who were regarded as being very successful in arranging for Barbra Streisand to appear in concert in Ireland. Barbra Streisand, it is accepted, is one of the most exclusive artistes to acquire and as such, her appearance demanded a commensurate fee. When the concert was announced it was welcomed and greeted with huge anticipation particularly by her fans who had never attended a live show of hers.

It is important at the outset to acknowledge the experience and professionalism of MCD who have been in this business for 25 years and in that time have promoted thousands of concerts and like events both here and in the UK. That been said, it is true to say that MCD has never before experienced such a consequence, as occurred at the Barbra Streisand concert, at any other event they have promoted. This, of course, does not take from the aftermath of the Barbra Streisand concert, but it is important for all concerned that context and relevance is maintained.

In developing this concert a whole process had to be initiated. The preceeding section dealt with this, however in this section it has to be referred to, so that sense and clarification can be brought to the fore. As has already been referred to, the most complaints were those touching on traffic, car parks, seating and general condition of the concert site.

From a site visit and in its examination of the issues raised by the complaints, there is no doubt that a key factor was the weather. We are convinced if this had been an indoor concert there would have been few if any of these difficulties. That is not to say that responsibility for the complaints does not rest elsewhere as well. Of course it does, but to ignore the impact of 50+ days of nearly continuous rainfall (see appendix 5) on an outdoor site would be ludicrous. In the initial stages of site selection with MCD and Barbra Streisand's team, CPI, in the spring of this year, both organisations obviously felt that in line with normal weather patterns an outdoor concert in the evening of the 14th July would make for a most enjoyable and magnificent occasion. Unfortunately for all concerned it did not occur like that.

When one reads through all the sequence of events as outlined in Section 3 of this report, one can see the difficulties that were being experienced and the meetings that took place with all the relevant agencies, both statutory and others, to address the difficulties that were anticipated. In fact MCD, when promoting the Oxegen concert in Punchestown the week previous to the Barbra Streisand concert, had many similar challenges to face, primarily caused by the weather. No doubt the signal of likely and similar difficulties for the following week must have been a cause for concern for MCD’s event management team at the Castletown House site.


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