Garth Brooks may have cancelled his Croke Park concerts but fans are being encouraged to visit Dublin.
On 8 July 2014, Aiken Promotions announced all five Garth Brooks concerts scheduled for Croke Park in Dublin were cancelled. Due to complaints by residents around the Drumcondra stadium, Dublin City Council would only grant a license for three of the proposed concerts. Garth Brooks decided it was a case of playing all five concerts or none at all, disappointing 400,000 people who had bought tickets for his first tour in more than 13 years.
All is not lost. Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe, and Minister of State Michael Ring don cowboy hats to launch a series of events billed as Dublin Goes Country.
Paschal Donohoe explains that the initiative is aimed at,
Those people who had tickets booked for Garth Brooks. We want to give them a really good reason to still come to Ireland.
Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Dublin's tourism industry are encouraging the many thousands of Garth Brooks fans to go ahead with their travel plans and visit the capital. The Dublin Goes Country events will take place over the weekend of 25 July 2014, when the first Garth Brooks concert was scheduled to take place.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 16 July 2014.
