Gardaí were paid €380,000 to police Garth Brooks Croke Park gigs

The Friends in Low Places singer took to the stage at the Dublin venue on September 9, 10, 11, 16, and 17 last year, with each show selling out entirely.

Some 400,000 concertgoers made the pilgrimage to Croke Park over the five days, meaning garda presence needed to be ramped up each evening.

Gardaí charge for policing services at some events, with the amount usually agreed with the venue and organisers beforehand.

New data released under the Freedom of Information Act has revealed that Garth Brooks’ five concerts were the most expensive of 2022.

The Croker gigs were followed by Dublin’s Malahide Castle Summer Concerts – which welcomed the likes of The Killers, Dermot Kennedy, and Lewis Capaldi - costing almost €272,000.

A further three events cost just under €255,000 each in policing fees last year.

The first was a series of rock concerts in Marlay Park, Dublin in June featuring Green Day, Guns and Roses and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

The second was the three-day Longitude Festival at the same location the following month, closely followed by the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois at the end of September.

Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward told Newstalk these policing bills are not paid by the taxpayer but by the organisers of the private events.

“Where you have a profit-making event that’s being organised privately and there’s a requirement for a policing presence, it certainly wouldn’t make sense that that policing bill to be footed by the taxpayer or the public purse,” he explained.

“So, where someone is making a profit out of an event, they should be factoring in the policing requirement into the cost of running that event.”