Updated 16.50

Dublin City Council has granted permission for just three of the five Garth Brooks Concerts scheduled to take place at Croke Park later this month.

400,000 tickets for the gigs have already been sold, with all five concerts selling out.

However, the City Council today agreed to licence just three of the concerts.

Dublin City Council has issued a statement this afternoon, outlining the reasons behind their decision not to grant permission for more than three concerts: 

• The scale, magnitude and number of the concerts... over five consecutive nights, three of them being week nights 
• Three consecutive concerts have already taken place in Croke Park this year, holding a further 5 concerts would be considered an over intensification of use of the stadium for the holding of special events/concerts
• The cumulative effect on residents and on some businesses in the Croke Park and surrounding neighbourhoods, of licencing five shows in a row, three of them on weekdays, would lead to an unacceptable level of disruption
• Concerned about setting a precedent for five consecutive concerts

Junior Minister for sports and tourism, Michael Ring, told Newstalk's Lunchtime show - presented today by Ciara McDonagh - he was disappointed visitors to Ireland might now change their plans, but insisted the law of the land must be observed:

Henry Mountcharles, who runs the Slane concert, says he was surprised organisers tried for five concerts: 

Mountcharles told Lunchtime though that the two concerts will definitely not be held at his Co. Meath venue.

Amanda Fee from Belfast has tickets for the Monday concert. Garth Brooks was her wedding song, and the tickets were to mark her anniversary:

Cllr Nial Ring has a constituency office just across the road from Croke Park, he told Newstalk's Pat Kenny show - being presented today by Newstalk's Jonathan Healy, that Dublin City Council were right to listen to residents' concerns: 

However, Cllr Ring says promoters pushed the residents too far.

The GAA says it will comment fully on Monday, but in the meantime the organisation has said it accepts the Council's ruling.

Meanwhile, Aiken Promotions has said "We are very disappointed that Dublin City Council did not grant a licence for the five Garth Brooks concerts at Croke Park."

Travel arrangements

Iarnród Éireann has confirmed that customers who booked train tickets to attend any of the Garth Brooks concerts that are cancelled will be refunded in full.

The company says it has already blocked further bookings on its website for extra late night services which had been planned to operate on the nights of 28th and 29th July.