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Seanad
‹ Order of Business

Croke Park licensing accountability

Summary

Senator Coghlan says both mass ticket sales without clearance and excessive power for one planning official demonstrate the need for democratic checks and reform.

To pick up the issue raised by Senator O'Brien, there is something seriously wrong with a system that allows more than 400,000 people to buy tickets for a concert without giving an all-clear under the licensing system. Equally, however, it is wrong in our democracy that any one man, such as the individual to whom the Senator referred, should have so much power without any checks and balances or right of appeal. It is wrong in any democracy and it calls for redress. He should at least have listened to council members. Perhaps when we return in the autumn, and hopefully matters are calmer, we will reflect on these events and devise or put forward views and ideas as to how the system should operate. It is a frightful mess as it stands.

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