The highly anticipated Fairview Park concerts have been mired in controversy as hundreds of residents were not informed about how the concerts will affect them, Dublin Live can reveal.
A maximum of five thousand punters will flock to the park for eight concerts held over a fortnight.
Phoebe Bridgers will play the opening concert of the series which includes Olivia Rodrigo, Stereophonics, Inhaler and Primal Scream.
The gate for most of the concerts open at 7pm with the music starting at 8pm.
The concerts have been in the works for months but residents in the North Strand - some of whom live a hundred metres from the stage - did not receive any contact from Dublin City Council or organisers MCD until lunchtime on Thursday when a leaflet was dropped through their doors.
Residents are "up in arms" about the lack of consultation which effectively means they can't plan their lives for the next two weeks.
They fear massive crowds of people passing their homes late at night keeping them up at night, sound checks during the day disturbing them working from home, access to the park being cut off and litter being left in their streets.
A group of residents met with DCC officials on Thursday night at the concert site demanding answers.
A subsequent email from an Assistant Parks Superintendent to Councillors, which was seen by Dublin Live, apologised for the lack of contact with residents which he said was "not acceptable".
It read: "It is not acceptable that residents were not informed of the upcoming event and I wish to apologise to the effected [sic] residents."
Dublin City Council said some 2,000 leaflets which contained a full description of the event, security and access arrangements and contact details for queries on June 8.
The local authority "became aware" this week that some residents did not receive leaflets and immediately commenced a second distribution on Tuesday.
However, a couple who live 100 metres across the river from the stage told Dublin Live MCD and DCC received a leaflet on Thursday which didn't address all of their concerns.
Aoife Keenan and Emer Kiernan, who are fans of music and have no problem with festivals generally, said they fear being made "prisoners in our own house" due to the two week long string of concerts.
Aoife even emailed DCC inquiring about the concerts when they were advertised. She received a "generic" email a few weeks later telling her someone would be in contact.
"They didn't tell us where the marquee was going to be", said Aoife. "Or any relevant information to be honest."
"They didn't contact us about this. They didn't liaise with us at all or our residents association or anything like that. I think we are more pissed off about that".
Emer said: "We can only assume they are going to use the foot bridge into the park as an entrance for people coming in [to the concert] which means we will have thousands of people on our little small street. It is going to be carnage."
"If it was for one weekend we wouldn't care. We would be like it is just one weekend from Thursday to Sunday. It started two or three days ago and it is going to go on until July 1. There are soundchecks every day from 12pm to 6pm.
"What if we are on a night shift? My partner is a nurse."
Emer added: "I start work early in the morning at 6am and I work from home so I assume I am going to be kept up until 1am or 2am with all the noise and I am sure the place is going to an absolute bomb with litter.
"Then, how we walk to school in the morning, how we walk the dog - that is all up in the air now. We don't think we have access to the park. Or even if we do, we think we have to go all the way around to the Clontarf end just to get into our own park.
"The amount of people that it brings... kind of like the Croke Park residents, we might feel like a prisoner in our own house. We don't know where we can park the car. Is it safe to park outside? Can we get down our own street after work. We just don't know anything. No one has communicated anything here.
They affirmed they have concerns about people urinating in their garden as well.
Emer and Aoife would like someone from MCD and/or DCC to explain how the concerts will affect them in full detail.
Fine Gael Councillor Ray McAdam realised the residents were not informed after dropping around his own leaflets on the concerts on Thursday.
He said: "Residents are up in arms about the concert stage being a hundred metres away from their home. They got no notification from the City Council until I circulated something to them [on Thursday]".
"The Council and MCD made a complete and utter dog's dinner of it. They let the residents in Fairview and Marino know but they didn't do anything for the residents in the North Strand who will be directly opposite the stage venue.
"They need reassurance about traffic management. Are their streets going to be flooded now with cars parking there across the two weeks? What is the garda presence going to be like? How are the noise levels going to be monitored? All of these sorts of things. They have had limited information."
Cllr McAdam added that what should have been a positive two weeks has "turned into another PR disaster".
He said: "No better organisation to grab defeat from the jaws of victory than the City Council.
"It should have been an enjoyable and very positive two weeks and good use of Fairview Park but it has been turned into another PR disaster due to the City Council's failure to properly communicate and engage with local communities like those in the North Strand."
In a statement to Dublin Live, DCC apologised to the affected residents.
A spokeswoman said: "Dublin City Council met a number of local residents on site yesterday evening (Thursday) to listen to their concerns, provide information on the event and to explain what measures are to be put in place to avoid this situation arising again.
"A full event management plan is in place and this includes security arrangements for both the site and the surrounding area."
She added: "Dublin City Council apologises to the affected residents."
Dublin Live has contacted MCD.
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