Disruption at majors gigs like Forever Young 'have nothing to do with Kildare County Council'
Kildare County Council has no role in coordinating an emergency response when disruptive weather conditions lead to the cancellation of an event.
This year’s Forever Young Festival at Palmerstown House, Johnstown, Naas, saw some disruption because of torrential rainfall when day ticket holders could not be admitted for one day -m though they were valid for the following day.
Green Party councillor Bob Quinn said KCC should act as the lead agency when an emergency response is needed for attendees.
He told a KCC meeting that arrangements would be in place and these are needed by businesses providing employment at such festivals.
“There should be a contingency to deal with the fallout from a cancellation caused by the weather. The council needs to look at what happened to people who have an event cancelled and we’ll see more of these in the coming months and years,” he said.
However independent councillor Padraig McEvoy said the council should not take financial responsibility for a cancellation and its involvement should be limited to licencing the attraction. KCC chief executive Sonya Kavanagh said the council could not take responsibility for coordinating a response for an interested party “without having due regard to the costs.”
Outdoor events with an excess of 5,000 attendees (other than sporting events) are licensed under law and this is done through councils, the gardaí and the HSE.
According to KCC official Amy Granville the obligation is on the organiser, as part of their licence application, to provide the principal response agencies with a management plan, to be agreed in advance.
The plan needs to address the responsibility of various managers on site including the controller, safety officer and manager. These people, said Ms Granville, are solely responsible for the safety of those on-site.
If it’s called off due to weather the organiser and team must communicate this to the patrons and to ensure an orderly departure or to communicate new plans in the event of partial cancellation or postponement.
While the council expects to be consulted it does not have a direct role in this decision.
She also pointed out that the emergency services will undertake their statutory duties in the event of an accident or emergency to which they are called.