Phoenix Park will not be shut for concerts in the wake of drug deaths and stabbings at last weekend’s dance and rap event.
Amid continued fallout over street drinking, fighting and open drug taking, Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the scenes as appalling.
“The video pictures of what happened out there are absolutely disgraceful, appalling, and that three young people died is simply scandalous,” he said.
Brian Hayes, the minister responsible for the Office of Public Works (OPW) which earns a substantial six-figure sum for leasing the venue, said reaction to the gig headlined by Swedish House Mafia had been justified.
He added: “The instances that occurred on Saturday are unacceptable. When instances like this occur it is very serious, it is wrong and we need to find out what went wrong...But I would not preclude the opportunity for other concerts there in the future.”
Promoters MCD held talks with senior gardai in Dublin city centre as a report is prepared for Government over the causes and response to what happened inside and around the concert venue on Saturday.
The three-day Phoenix Park event was organised as a scaled-down alternative to the cancelled Oxegen music festival in Punchestown, Co Kildare.
There were at least two deaths linked to drug overdoses while 22-year-old Raymond Donnan from Greenfort Crescent in Clondalkin, Dublin, was refused bail on charges in relation to several stabbings.
Source: Irish Examiner, 11/07/12
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