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Marlay Park gigs are granted extended run

Concerts in Marlay Park look set to go ahead for another five years as the local council is currently looking for a new promoter.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council recently issued a tender looking for expressions of interest from promoters to hold concerts in the park from 2016 to 2021.

A spokeswoman for the council said it has not decided on an overall number of concerts to be held during the five-year period.

She added that the number could vary from year to year, though she did not say how many or how few concerts might be held.

"It will not be mapped out for the next five years, it will be decided on a year-by-year basis," she said.

Concert costs will be agreed with the promoter who wins the tender and promoters will be paid on a concert-by-concert basis.

There will be five concerts in Marlay Park this year. Last weekend saw both Swedish DJ Avicii and Scottish singer Paolo Nutini play to huge crowds on Friday and Saturday, while the Longitude Festival is set to run from July 17 to July 19. The five concerts will have a combined capacity of 135,000 people.

This is a significant reduction compared with the number of events last year, when there were eight concert days, including Longitude, which had a total capacity of 210,000 people.

The staging of the concerts was reviewed after a record number of complaints from locals last year, when 150 people contacted the county council.

security

Over the past six months, organisers Festival Republic worked in conjunction with several local residents' associations to ensure sufficient security is in place this summer.

External security and stewarding was increased by 50pc for the five upcoming concerts.

Despite the new measures, some locals are still unhappy with the level of anti-social behaviour in the area over the weekend.


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