File to DPP on Garth Brooks ‘forged’ objections

The Garda investigation into forged objections to the doomed Garth Brooks concerts at Croke Park has resulted in a file being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A Garda spokesperson confirmed that the file is to be sent to the DPP following a large-scale probe into the bogus objections lodged ahead of the decision by Dublin City Council to grant licences for just three of the proposed five shows.

Ultimately, the country music superstar pulled the plug on the entire series of concerts that had been due to take place at GAA headquarters on July 25, 26 and 27.

One of the more bizarre elements of the story was the revelation that some objections lodged regarding the concert were fake, with some of the people purported to have made objections stating afterwards that they had not.

Dublin City Manager Owen Keegan told the Oireachtas Transport Committee in July that, of a sample of 200 submissions received by the local authority in relation to the Brooks shows, 72 of them were suspect.

A total of more than 370 submissions were received by DCC ahead of the closing date of May 21.

A spokesperson for the gardaí said: “A Garda investigation into alleged irregularities [in] submissions made to Dublin City Council regarding the Licence Application for the Garth Brooks Concerts, which commenced in June 2014, is ongoing.

“Investigating gardaí are following over 450 lines of inquiry as part of the investigation. To date, in excess of 200 statements have been taken.

Among those who expressed alarm at the possibility that some of the objections lodged about the concerts might have been false were promoter Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions, which sold out all 400,000 tickets for the original five-show run.

Senior Croke Park officials had also expressed concern about the development when it emerged gardaí were investigating the issue.