Slane concert review promises full site layout examination

A review of the recent Slane concert held in June has promised that the layout of the event site would be examined before any future concert. However, the analysis has shown that there was no overcrowding on the site as a whole, according to a statement from Meath County Council this week. The review of the concert was held in the offices of the council last Wednesday and involved representatives of the council itself, the Gardai, Health Service Executive, Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann, promoters MCD and Henry and Alex Mountcharles of Slane Castle. Slane Community Forum has already said that it was not aware of the review and protested that the village's residents should have been included in any examination of the events around the concert. The forum is to meet shortly and will draw up its own review of the concert as it affected residents, after consultation with its constituent groups. Meath County Council spokesman Bill Sweeney said that the review carried out last week received feedback from the various agencies on issues arising from the 2009 concert, headlined by Oasis, following debriefs undertaken by each agency. Promoters MCD apologised for a system failure on the day which led to the suspension of ticket scanning for a period. "This decision was taken in the interests of public safety and the promoters are satisfied that it did not lead to any significant number of people entering the site without tickets," a statement said. The council statement added: "While the congregation of people at certain points within the site caused some difficulties, in particular at Bar Number 3, the evidence available showed that there was no overcrowding on the site as a whole. The layout of the site will be reviewed for any future event and Henry Mountcharles confirmed that he was examining expanding the site by several acres to give more comfort to patrons." Mr Sweeney said that it had also been acknowledged that timely and effective communication between all parties was essential to the management of the event. It was agreed that bilateral meetings will take place to examine some issues in more detail. There was full agreement between all participants that the review was worthwhile in identifying issues that will need to be addressed for the future.