Final confirmation has been given to us on the number of concerts in Marlay Park in 2015. There will be 5 nights in concerts.

The following concerts will take place subject to license:

• July 3rd, Friday, Avicii, Rudimental.
• July 4th, Saturday, Paolo Nutini, Imelda May / Alabama Shakes
• July 17th – 19th, Longitude Concerts with Hozier, Alt J, Chemical Brothers as main acts.

The capacities for each of the events will be 35,000 plus guests for July 3rd, 4th  at the standalone concerts and 20,000 plus guests for Longitude.

Marley Grange Residents Association will continue to work with Festival Republic and DLR Co Co to minimise disruption to the estate during the concerts.

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Marlay Grange House Charity Fundraising Concert.

The event held in Marlay Grange House on 1^st November resulted in a lot of concerns for local residents, and many complaints were made to the Gardai, the local authorities and to Marley Grange Residents Association. The core issues to our residents was that this concert was very loud and was on until after 2am in the morning and could be heard over the entire local area. There is no approval required nor any legal basis to prevent any future private event taking place and there is no legal basis to control volume at such an event.

On foot of the complaints MGRA received, representatives of the MGRA committee met with the owner of Marlay Grange house to discuss the issues raised.

The main points arising from the discussion were –

• The event held in Marlay Grange House on 1^st November was a private function held to raise funds for the Barnardos children’s charity.  600 invited guests attended, of whom around 60 could be considered locals that had introduced themselves to the owner in advance of the event. Attendance at the event was free but a contribution to Barnardos was a condition of participation. This raised a very significant amount of funds for the charity.
• It was accepted that the event this year caused a large groundswell of complaints, both to Gardai and local authorities. It was also accepted that mistakes were made in running this year’s event, in particular with regard to:

delay in the programme of live bands resulting in the loudest part of event spilling over well past midnight,

the orientation of the speakers for the event, parallel to Grange Road. In the 2013 event speakers were facing away although they could still be heard in Marley Grange housing estate.

there was a lack of communication with stakeholders such as local residents about the event (although this was a well-intentioned deliberate policy for security reasons to minimise any gate-crashing attempts to the event)

lack of a “complaints hotline” that could have lessened the overload of calls to Rathfarnham / Dundrum Garda stations

• Gardai had been contacted by the organisers in advance of the event, and a small number of Gardai were present on the night to work with event security to ensure public safety. Despite reports to the contrary, the Garda request to turn down volume was acceded at midnight with a reduction in the volume levels by the event management company.  Although it was acknowledged that this may not have been noticeable to residents in Marley Grange.
• The owner expects to run a similar event next year on 31^st October, and to raise even more funds and raise the profile of Barnardos and the good work done by the charity. The Event next year would learn lessons from this year in an attempt to minimise any disruption to local residents with

Ø  tighter scheduling of the live bands with a strict cut off time earlier in the evening

Ø  pointing of speakers away from local housing, and utilisation of more directional speakers to focus sound at the event attendees and minimise spill over

Ø  strong engagement with local residents to communicate plans and rules to be adhered to as part of the event management company (possibly including a max threshold sound level or equivalent)

Ø  further thought to managing car parking associated with event to minimise disruption to local residents.

• The owner clarified that while he was strongly committed to next year’s event and to the raising of much needed funds for Barnardos, he had no desire to hold something that causes significant disruption to the local community. The owner does want to be seen as part of our neighbourhood where Marlay Grange House has a role as part of the history and culture of the area. He fervently hoped that agreement can be reached that meets the needs of all parties.

It is our opinion that any event that causes upset to local neighbours due to very loud music, irrespective of the good intentions behind it, cannot be considered welcome in the area. However we recognise that the owner of the premises did not break any laws, and that any future events can only be covered by a voluntary code of practice rather than any existing legal framework. MGRA understands that local authorities are considering new bye laws to give the Garda powers to stop music above certain levels at such events. We would certainly welcome and support such developments. In the meantime we believe that a constructive engagement with the owner of Marlay Grange House will lead to tightening up of the conditions around future events and should lead to less disruption for local residents.

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The last of the Marley Park Concerts 2014 take place this week 18th to 20th of July. There will be restricted access again on the estate and sound levels will be monitored.  If a resident wishes to contact the concert promoter with a complaint (noise/anti social) on the night of a concert he may phone the following number: 089 2067950.

We recognise this year there has been a 8 nights of concerts at Marley Park and the sensitivities over concerts especially in relation to what occurred with the Garth Brooks concerts. If any residents of Marley Grange do wish to give feedback to the association on the concerts please feel free to contact us with your name, address at info@marleygrange.ie

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For summer 2013 the Longitude Music Festival will take place from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st of July and the arenas open up at 1:30pm. Details and more information of performing artists can be found at www.longitude.ie. Parking and access to Marley Grange by car is restricted during the concerts and DLR Co Co have issued 3 parking permits for each house. If you are expecting visitors on these days and 3 permits are not enough, please contact DLR Co co office as per the letter received.

From what we understand as of the 4th of July, there are no concerts planned for the August Bank holiday weekend.

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