The policing bill for Garth Brooks' five concerts last year in Croke Park was €380,000, freedom of information files have revealed. 

Gardaí charge for policing services at some events - with the amount usually agreed with the commercial organisations beforehand. 

Garth Brooks' five concerts were the most expensive of 2022 - followed by the Malahide Castle Summer Concerts in Dublin which cost almost €272,000.

US Country music star Garth Brooks during his first in a series of concerts at Croke Park, Dublin, 09-09-2022. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward told Newstalk it would not be right for taxpayers to foot the bill for 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 said. 

“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.”  

A further three events cost just under €255,000 each last year; the first was a series of rock concerts in Dublin’s Marlay Park 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 venue in July and the third was the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, County Laois.

Main image: Garth Brooks at Croke Park in Dublin, 22-11-2021. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo