Slane Site Set For Tweak

Although MCD has been cleared of over-selling the Oasis concert at Slane Castle in Ireland June 20, the inquiry into the event has led the site owners to look at expanding the area to make future shows more comfortable for the crowd.

Meath County Council is satisfied there were actually slightly fewer people than the 80,000 capacity, but Slane Castle owner Lord Henry Mountcharles is reportedly considering expanding the site by several acres.

The reports of over-selling were triggered when ticket scanning had to be suspended because of the size of the crowd queuing at the gate, but all of them had already had their tickets checked at a police barrier.

“There was no overcrowding as a whole. The difficulty was that people congregated at certain areas, particularly at bar three, near the Dublin Road entrance. This prevented other people moving onto the site proper,” Meath County Council representative Bill Sweeney told The Sunday Times.

MCD apologised to the July 29 inquiry for a “systems failure” at the Dublin Road gate, the main access point for people coming from the capital.

Getting home was the biggest problem for many fans, as 22,000 of them – more than a quarter of the audience – wanted to go by bus but only 3,000 had booked.

There were reports of people waiting more than five hours for a bus back to Dublin. Others reported having to walk for miles in darkness to get to buses, but the report found the lack of off-site lighting after the show was due to vandalism.

The council said it will hold meetings with Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann to resolve some of the issues. It said MCD and the bus companies will look at how they can encourage people to pre-book.

The council is also considering making the approach route via the N2 exclusively available for use by Dublin Bus.

“When it comes to the next license we will be asking what lessons have been learnt,” Sweeney explained.