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Updated 21.40pm
TICKETMASTER HAS SAID it is facing an “unprecedented” operation to refund Garth Brooks tickets for the 400,000 people who bought them.
Within minutes of Aiken Promotion confirming that all five concerts had been cancelled, questions were being raised about how all the would-be concert-goers will get their money back.
Full details of exactly how people can get a refund will be unveiled tomorrow.
Ticketmaster said it is “working on a plan to make the cancellation process as simple and convenient as possible for customers”.
“However the scale of this operation is unprecedented in the Irish entertainment industry and therefore we would ask customers to continue to be patient while we finalise our plan”.
Both Ticketmaster and Aiken Promotions promised that full details of the plan will be published tomorrow.
Tickets for the gig sold at between €65 and €80 each.
Rooms refunded
Meanwhile, Moran & Bewley’s Hotel Group has said it will refund rooms booked for the Garth Brooks concerts.
The group said in a statement that “all rooms, including those booked under a no-refund policy, which have been pre-paid will be completely refunded under these exceptional circumstances.”
“The decision to cancel all five concerts will cost Moran & Bewley’s Hotels a conservative minimum of €800,00 but estimates of everything from food and beverage to car parking will put that figure closer to an estimated €1.1 million.”
The Irish Hotels Federation said in a statement this evening that the concerts were a “major tourism event” and their cancellation will have a direct impact on Irish tourism businesses.
“The shambolic situation we now find ourselves in with the cancellation of all five concerts is nothing short of a disaster for our tourism industry,” according to IHF President Stephen McNally.
He also called on the government to ensure a similar issue “does not arise again”, saying: “This situation was entirely avoidable. Major events like this cannot be left to chance.”
The Licensed Vintners Association has criticised the cancellation of the concerts, saying they could have brought an estimated €15 million to Dublin pubs.
LVA Chief Executive Donall O’Keeffe said that news of the cancellations had come as a “body blow” to the Dublin pub trade and urged the Government to explore alternative remedies to the situation.
“All the parties involved in this mess, including the City Authorities, have mishandled this matter from start to finish,” O’Keeffe added. “The whole episode represents a massive financial hit to our members and to the thousands of people whom they employ across the city.”
- Additional reporting by Susan Ryan
The Journal should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for the number of Garth articles posted in one week.
Check out the Garth Brooks hashtag they use… 3 pages – nothing but Garth!
Now I hope we can shut the f up about him!
@Sean here you go 3 pages is indeed correct… http://www.thejournal.ie/garth-brooks/news/
Never mind the ticket…..what do I do with the disgusting white fringed shirt I bought specially and the five assorted colour Stetsons !!!
I’m sure you’ll find another use for the shiny new set of spurs :)
Send them to Fart Crooks!
I’m confident that the Nation will eventually recover from this massive body blow to the country and to its people.
I cracked up laughing when I saw the even our glorious and illustrious Taoiseach felt the need to weigh on this national crisis.
We make a fuss over trivial issue and we stay mute over important issues.
Dublin city manager is apolitical, like a judge. He made the correct decision despite enormous political pressure. This is the entire reason his position is apolitical.
I have no axe to grind here, but the Dublin City Manager did not do his job when him and his staff only made the declaration now, instead of following the rules and saying at the time of the application that it contravened the planning laws. When will these people do the job they are paid for. This whole kerfuffle is an embarrassment to the country, and needlessly so!
Will ticketmaster refund the €6.10 handling fee as well as the ticket price? Or will they charge another €6.10 for processing the refund?
Yera who gives a shite
In keeping with the price gouging surrounding Brooks’ concerts from the likes of the LVA and the IHF, I expect there’ll be a €10.00 Garth processing fee.
Co Clare wave energy ain’t gonna get too many reads now!
lol
Just clicked in to it there, felt sorry for it.
I’m sure they will find some way to cure their achey breaky heart
@ Richard. That was billy ray cyrus
Hilariously stupid
Richard .. That was a Billy Ray Cyrus song not a Garth Brooks song ….. Maybe he is thanking god for unanswered prayers ….. We are a stupid banana republic we could not organise the opening of a burst packet of tayto …
I’m sure Richard is devastated he doesn’t know his Billy Ray Cyrus from his Garth Brooks, how can he ever show his face in public again!
Will ticket master refund the admin fee as well as ticket value?
Ha ha ha ha.
There will be bleeding riots outside Croke Park tonight! Autoglass will be the only benefitters!!
The ticket holders should still go outside croke park and sing Gareth brooks songs all nite.
Yep and play knick knack around the houses
We must move now to bail out the ticket holders.
What did Garth have for lunch today? Where will people who had tickets for Garth Brooks go now that week instead? Where were you when you found out Garth Brooks’ concerts were cancelled? The top 5 reactions to Garth Brooks’ concerts being cancelled. Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks Garth Brooks
Madness that there is no allowance for a planning appeal against a decision made by one man, Dublin City Manager Owen Keegan, even if he was right he should not be allowed to make a decision that is not allowed to be appealed. It was not even allowed to be overturned by the elected members of Dublin City Council.
I am certainly no fan but the system stinks that one mans decision with massive consequence is allowed, it is more like a dictatorship.
Many of the city councillors and local tds were also against the concerts from the beginning and stuck with it…apart from the Sinn Fein councillors who were against it when they were canvassing for the local elections and suddenly changed their mind in the last few weeks
Somebody has to make the decisions.
Get on eBay and sell them for huge coin in the US or somewhere that mightn’t have heard the news yet.
awe. don’t you understand the Internet?
Clean your arse with it…
Bout all its good for now
Shiny paper though, nothing sticks to it so there might be siht all up your back…
The paper cuts…
Ass cleaned n y know where to dump them! They will help their flowers grow!
Not a fan but it’s ridiculous that Ireland didn’t make this happen, in saying that Gareth Brooks is also a giant douche bag!
At least spell the name right
That is the correct spelling. Brooks spells his name incorrectly, due to being an idiot,
No respect for GB after going that to fans. ASS
Ah Louise forgive and forget.
I agree… Three concerts would have been fine…. He got greedy and put the country to ransom…
Germany 5
Garth Brooks concerts 0
Brilliant
For Sale. –
1 x Ex Large Cowboy Hat
1 x Out of tune Guitar
1 x Pair of size 9 Cowboy boots
1 x Return plane ticket to Dallas
400,000 unused concert tickets
350,000 Hotel rooms
175,000 prebooked taxis
300,000 restaurant reservations
3.4 million unwanted pints of Guinness
1.2 million wee bottles of wine
40,000 short haul flights
10,000 long haul flights
500,000 packets of Tayto
Not to mention all the 100s of unemployed Pram drivers selling Apples Oranges & Chocolate …….
APPLY IN WRITING TO – PETER AIKEN C/ O AIKEN PROMOTIONS LISBURN ROAD BELFAST ………….
Frame it.
Have a Good Cry.
Then cope on and realise How Stupid this entire episode has been
What now happens to all the small local schools, sports clubs and charities who received donated tickets to raffle or auction off? If tickets had been auctioned for charity will/can the person now look for their money back? Say someone bought 2 tickets for €300, this money was then given to a charity. Does the charity have to refund the money? Its a potential minefield.
It’s not unprecedented. Michael Jackson had sold out 50 nights in London’s O2 before he died. Most of those tickets had to be refunded. That was 1,000,000 tickets.
This needed a separate story did it?
Expect at least another 4 today and probably 10 before Friday. Talk about completely bleeding a story dry.
TheJournal is the Adrian Kennedy Phoneshow of online media.
Sell it to friends in low places.
Reeling in the Years 2014 will be all over this!
Donate it to REHAB.
Garth who?
Vader.
Quality! :D
Dublin won’t be swamped with 80,000 woolly-backs every day for the guts of a week, what’s not to love?
Garth brooks is shite
It’s all terribly Irish unfortunately.
Exactly. Rules get followed, for once, and everyone has a shitfit.
If Bertie was in charge, none of this would have happened. The brown envelopes would have changed hands and Gart would have his warm up gigs.
Oh I don’t know, get a refund maybe?
We Irish are a laughing stock.What a joke.Couldnt organise a pissup in a brewery.No wonder we are the butt of so many jokes.
We are a laughing stock due to the fact that a county and western singer has been debated in our parliament and has dominated the political domain for over a week, while people are homeless, ill children are losing their medical cards and we have 11 % unemployment…..Irish people are a laughing stock for deeming Garth brooks more worthy of a protest than a is the above!!!! :/
Shoddy, you are a voice of sanity and reality in the midst of all of the silly hysteria. I thought that the entire country was in a state of madness. Thank you.
Grand roach material
Anyone hear anything about Pat Kenny joining Newstalk?
Will we be refunded our €6.10 per ticket booking fee ??? Where will this €2.44 million go ?? Plus the interest from the past few months on €26 million
Yes it will be refunded and as for the interest well I think aiken are going to need it for all the legal fees there going to be stuck with also the down payments to garth would have been made in January
Make the residents pay
Let’s make a list of what can use on for.
Make a paper aeroplane
Roll it up and sort cocaine
Make a paper hat for a cat
A coaster
Put it in an envelope, send it to brooks with a note saying thanks for nothing.
Use the ticket to wave bye bye to Garth Brooks fat ass’
To all you g@bshit@s that are slagging Garth off, there’s an awful lot of yas that seem to know the words to his songs…..strange that don’t ya think!!
Get a life!!!!
You first Eliz…
Yeah liz … I agree . I think they are all closet Garth fans or just jealous haters who couldn’t get tickets in the first place
Brilliant joe :-)
Aiken breakin hearts!!!!
Fair play to Moran/Bewleys!
What about people that bought the tickets on donedeal adverts etc??
What about them, they should know you should only buy tickets from official outlets, tough cheese
And im also chuffed for all the touts who tried to make a mint out of the first few concerts – again – tough
Sell it
Go to ebay..there are loads for sale.
There are one thousand different types of banana
Send the refund straight back to social welfare.
Not the biggest fan of Brooks but bloody hell turning down an economic boost to the city. Laughing stock.
Much???
It’s after going into 1/5 in paddy power that all 5 concerts take place. Obviously something happening.
I’ve said that from the beginning.€50M plus gone that would have aided the economy.Also international reputation.Bands & artists will think twice about coming here.
People have long memories when things like this happen.
Owen ? Head of DCC – I wouldnt want to be him right now when he explains his decision to block concets thats revenue would help us to pay of IMF
I should hope the booking fee is returned also.
Firstly you get your money back from Ticketmaster and then you frame your ticket to leave for your great grand children as a reminder of the most embarrassing entertainment fiasco that this country has ever allowed to happen… only in Ireland would it happen…
Who cares?
I hope they put some mechanism in place where a person who bought a ticket from a 3rd party can also get a refund.. A lot of them were sold online.
A 3rd party refund. Of course there will be… LMFAO
stub hub is refunding mine
Got to ring tomorrow! What if tomorrow never comes?
Shove them your hole.
*up.My friend sonny black says hi.
Burn them!
Who is this Garth Brooks bloke anyway?
Brilliant! :-/
He played at White Hart Lane once.
That was Crooks. Plenty of them about !
You could use the money given back to purchase some decent music and stop listening to 1990s commercial crap country music whined by a an overeating cowboy
To all the disappointed Louth Fans- why not aim your refunds at opening Louth County Hospital – for lots of Co. Louth people tomorrow might not come
rip off hotels really going to feel loss of revenue…expect room sales in dublin for these 5 days
What about all the people who bought their tickets overseas and planned a trip to Ireland around the gig? Flights, accom, time. What a joke.
There’s more to Dublin and Ireland than a Garth Brooks gig. I expect the majority of travellers don’t have return flights for first thing the next day. They might see something educational and beautiful instead.
Hopefully the residents get the karma they deserve. I doubt their houses are worth as much for a start
And the thunder rolls , do do do And the thunder rolls , now the lighting strikes , We in this country we organise a piss up in the hop store
Who is Garth Brooks?
Will Sinn Fein change their mind again . “Don’t let him play , let him play , sure we said it from the start that it’s nothing to do with us “..
I am a proud Irish man but stuff like this make my blood boil . Amateurs . 400,000 people against 374. . 400,000 people average spend €250 . Hello .
Gobsh@&53s and an embarrassment to this once proud Country .
Do we need tourism .. Yes tick
Have 70,000 tourist come and stay for a concert will this help .. Yes tick .
If so called politicians interfere with concert organising cause a disaster .. Yes tick .
Carlsberg sorry SF don’t do politics but if they do they’ll make a ba@&0x of it .
Anybody want to buy 2000 pink glittery cowboy hats?
Put on a Garth Brooks tribute band and let all the residents in free. No? OK.
Who is this guy anyway?? Zzzzzz
Here’s an alternative….
Disappointed Garth Brooks fans due to travel to Dublin at the end of the month can hold on to their cowboy hats for a special event at the Mary from Dungloe Festival.
The 10-day festival gets underway on Saturday, July 26th and many regular festival goers had planned to be in Dublin from July 25th to 29th for the five shows at Croke Park but the cancellation announcement on Tuesday evening put an end to those plans.
The Mary from Dungloe festival programme includes a Garth Brooks tribute gig on Sunday, 27th on the town’s main street at 4 p.m. with Gary Mc Evoy’s ‘Thunder Roll Tour ‘14’. Festival organisers were quick off the mark this week to offer disappointed fans a ‘soft landing’ following the cancellation of the five Dublin gigs.
Deirdre Wilson of the festival committee joined in the sympathy to the 400,000 ticket holders on Tuesday evening but said main street in Dungloe is the new alternative on Sunday, July 27th.
“It’s very disappointing news for the 400,000 fans with tickets – many from here in Donegal – but we are delighted to offer them a free alternative. We have Gary Mc Evoy and his Garth Brooks tribute show on the main street from 4 to 6 p.m. and it’ll surely be a bigger event now. This was going to be a fantastic show anyway and it’ll give the many fans a chance to sample some of Gath’s music. They can get their Croke Park tickets refunded from Ticketmaster as our show is all for free,” she said.
I say every ticket holder go to Croke park and just play Gareth brooks music and make a night out of it! Just after listening to the resident on a talk show on the radio filled me with anger, they also say they’ve lost cos they sold the tickets given to them and missed out on the amounts given to them and the community :(
Or we all go stand outside your house for 8 days
Blame it all your suits,I don’t care in hoots,I ain’t showing up,your ruining our business affair.
What do you do if you have a Gareth brooks ticket?
Wipe your arse with it, it’s not much good for anything else.
There’s always Nathan Carter in December …. I don’t think u need planning permission for the Bord Gas Energy Theatre
Poor Nathan, I feel sorry for him… two sell out concerts in front of 80,000 ppl pulled from him….actually I was looking forward to seeing him as well…. feckers…
Make sure it’s waterproof so you don’t ruin it with tears!!!
I don’t have a Brooks ticket what do I need to do now?
Great publicity for Garth Brooks. Convenient that he cancelled his concerts here, he’s getting worldwide coverage and now he is most likely going to announce a world wide tour on Thursday. He is like a spoilt child who didn’t get his own way. I say fair play to those who objected the 5 dates. There are a lot of elderly people living around croke park and I know that if my granny or granddad lived there, I wouldn’t want them subjected to 5 days of road closures and drunk eejits. If everything was truly for the fans, he would play the 3 dates and try source another venue for a few months time and play his concert for those who are affected!
Why are people blaming g.b. & promotors …… Wake up …. D.corp. put d spanner in..
All the people who can afford tickets after paying their mortgage , other bills, and travel to Croke Park don’t need too much sympathy. People are lining up for food parcels everyday all over Ireland. So the privileged who have tickets are not really suffering too much.
What do you do….? Take a long hard look in the mirror that’s what.
I’d hope it wasn’t shiny as it would prove very ineffective ;)
What do you do now if you bought your ticket off a tout….
Bog roll!!!
Garth Brooks has officially ended his love affair with Ireland. Is a short statement he said “it’s over”
What I find funny is the fact that there was an agreement signed that said Croke Park would only hold three concerts a year, based on this fact alone do you not think they would have stopped to think “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t book 5 gigs, it might get refused!”
Iv got gigs in no places
Ireland should switch their Euro qualifier against Germany to Croke pk. They won’t get 5 there.
Keep it the government are appealin it so it should be ok…. mmmm eh ye
LVA cartel. Up yours
I’ll give you five Mr. Aiken… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS_LVHZg3H8
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