INIS Fest 2015 - It's happening!

CptSternn · 20-04-2015 8:56am

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Very interesting blog, especially .....

So I am not sure what comparison you are drawing to the present ........ except that maybe you think that the residents' objections are just an excuse for the organisers and not the real cause of the cancellation.

The similarity in both cases was both events were shut down due to a handful of people with an agenda.

This time the organisers spent months and a good bit of their own money engaging with all the appropriate groups - An Garda Síochána, Clare County Council, the Vintners Federation of Ireland, HSE, St Joseph’s Hospital, Clare County Fire and Rescue, Clare Civil Defence, the private security firm that planned and worked Slane, and at least a dozen other groups in regards to logistics, security, and charity fundraising.

Yet even after jumping through all those hoops, covering their bases, doing it properly, not acting the maggot and going all cowboy they still were shut down by the same people threatening legal action.

It's why there won't be any events in Ennis like this in the near future.

At this point I bet even the organisers of the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann are getting worried.

Per the quotes from those who 'opposed' it...

http://www.thejournal.ie/inisfest-cancelled-2044853-Apr2015/

"We want to be sure that all the people that have no accommodation, that have nowhere to go, that are sleeping in their cars, puking over our walls and peeing in our gardens are going to be monitored."

Yeah, that was 10,000 people for 2 nights, three days.

What are they going to do when the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann comes to town in March, bringing with it an estimated 300,000 people?

http://clareherald.com/2015/03/07/ennis-secures-fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann-for-2016-3453/

Should the organisers of the Fleadh get a battalion of solicitors ready now and start having local meetings with the organisers or will we see merely weeks before the Fleadh kicks off that a handful of residents oppose it?

If I were the organisers of the Fleadh, I would make sure I have a boatload of solicitors ready to fight back already on retainer. Especially with this small but well connected, litigious lot.

CptSternn · 20-04-2015 9:04am

Also, just putting this out there, if you look at who attended the meetings and protested the event you will find some people attended that were not residents who leveled complaints. Don't believe me? Check the photos.

So aside from the huge amount of planning and signing off on things that has to be done PER LOCATION when planning such an event by all the groups I listed in my previous post, the issue then becomes if you have people who do not live there protesting for whatever reason, what makes anyone think these same people would not be protesting an alternate venue? Why would they be there to begin with?

Per Declan's post, this has happened before, it's just last time these same groups had their own solicitors go over the planning details with a fine tooth comb and used the various government bodies to challenge such an event. This time they could not do that do the extensive planning and groups that were engaged beforehand, so they got together a group of 'angry locals' and again threatened legal action.

It's all the one. Same people, same agenda, different tactics.

Clareman · 20-04-2015 9:07am

The weird thing is that the event wasn't objected to, there was a threat of the drinks license being objected to, but the event itself was ok, it was decided by the organisers that it couldn't go ahead without the license so they cancelled it.

Johnboy1951 · 20-04-2015 9:08am

CptSternn wrote: »

The similarity in both cases was both events were shut down due to a handful of people with an agenda.

Well I certainly did not get that from the blog you linked to.
It clearly stated there were no objections from residents.

Rather it was saying, to me, that the cancellation at that time was caused by 'red-tape'.

Clareman wrote:

The weird thing is that the event wasn't objected to, there was a threat of the drinks license being objected to, but the event itself was ok, it was decided by the organisers that it couldn't go ahead without the license so they cancelled it.

Even more than that ...... they cancelled because of a threat of an objection to the liquor licence.

Why would they do that?
Because the event was not at all viable without alcohol sales revenue?
They did not foresee an objection to the licence and panicked?
There was a realisation that the event was not going to be profitable even with the licence?

I see no reason for a 'threat of an objection' to be the main cause of the cancellation.
It might of course have been the 'last straw' ..... a minor contribution to the whole reason for pulling the plug.

CptSternn · 20-04-2015 10:35am

Clareman wrote:

The weird thing is that the event wasn't objected to, there was a threat of the drinks license being objected to, but the event itself was ok, it was decided by the organisers that it couldn't go ahead without the license so they cancelled it.

Johnboy1951 wrote:

Even more than that ...... they cancelled because of a threat of an objection to the liquor licence.

Now both of ye seem to be getting it.

The only way to cover the costs of the acts was with bar sales. The ticket sales would not cover the acts. The whole thing hinged on bar sales.

Someone threatened legal action. It wasn't all the people living around Fair Green, it wasn't even all the protesters. A specific legal threat was made by an specific person or person(s) which is all I can really say here, and it was followed up with other things said.

Without the alcohol sales the event was not going to be able to go on. The legal costs to even attempt to fight it would be a minimum of few thousand euro, and if they really wanted it stopped they would have easily been able to file motions which would have tied it up and forced special sittings to get the license which could have easily doubled the legal bill.

The costs for the solicitors would have been more than the event organisers were even making themselves, they would have possibly been able to get the license but they then would be running the show at an out of pocket loss.

Certain people knew this, used this to their advantage, and got away with it.

The real question ye should be asking is who had the money and resources to outspend the organiser on frivolous legal fees who they themselves would not miss and to them would be worth the legal costs incurred for stopping this event.

I'm not saying who or whom, nor am I even implying the identity of anyone here, as we all know if you haven't figured it out after the legal threats to the organisers - they are a very litigious bunch with ample resources and solicitors on retainer, but feel free to ask around town on your own. That is not against any law.

Clareman · 20-04-2015 11:29am

CptSternn wrote: »

The only way to cover the costs of the acts was with bar sales. The ticket sales would not cover the acts. The whole thing hinged on bar sales.

Sorry, but in my world that's very bad organisation, having 1 point of failure for any project means you have to ensure that point is organised first, if you can't organise it then you have to have contingencies in place. Also, having a variable income source as a major impact runs a large risk.

Clareman · 20-04-2015 11:33am

CptSternn wrote: »

The costs for the solicitors would have been more than the event organisers were even making themselves, they would have possibly been able to get the license but they then would be running the show at an out of pocket loss.

Surely they would have factored in the costs for applying for the license into their operational budget, I would guess this application would have gone to the local court, if this was successful and someone wanted to object it would have gone up a court level, as this was a license application you would just need to have your own costs covered, anyone wanting to appeal would pay for the appeal costs. I would imagine that an event like this would need to have legal representation on retainer anyway so the costs mightn't have been too high.

crazyguy01 · 28-04-2015 1:05pm

Can't find it online but has anybody read the Clare People, they seem to have am article in the print issue claiming this is back on according to Twitter?
Won't have a chance to pick up a copy til this evening....

dee_mc · 28-04-2015 1:06pm

Just saw on Clare People Fb page that it's to go ahead

crazyguy01 · 28-04-2015 1:07pm

Where does anybody know... The location doesn't seem to be online on FB/Twitter, they really want people to buy the paper to find exact details.

Clareman · 28-04-2015 2:27pm

The rumour I've heard is The West County, great that the part of town that objected to a new Tesco is getting an event another part of town didn't want

ger664 · 28-04-2015 2:33pm

From what I heard of the article it may go ahead at a later date this year or next year in June but not at Tim Symth Park.

Clareman · 28-04-2015 8:47pm

Here's an article on it from The Clare Herald

http://clareherald.com/2015/04/28/inis-fest-to-make-shock-return/

wuzziwig · 30-04-2015 3:09pm

What about the showgrounds as a venue? I was at the Garden festival there last weekend and it's a fine place for any event. Anyone know why it's not used more? There is loads of room there. There is a sizeable indoor area already there and plenty of room for a marquee if the indoor area wasn't suitable. I remember going to Meat Loaf there many years ago and it was a great venue (sh1t concert but great venue!!). They could run shuttle buses from the Market area but it's not really that much of a walk anyway. I suppose you will have residents objecting there too but I think it the perfect spot for this festival.

crazyguy01 · 30-04-2015 3:37pm

Today's Clare Champion have the Showgrounds as definite.. Very perceptive of you! Can't quote here now but will later if I can find it online when not on the phone.

wuzziwig · 30-04-2015 7:45pm

Really? I never buy local papers as we get them at work and I end up reading them a week later!! The show grounds is perfect. Any word on what dates it will be on?

crazyguy01 · 30-04-2015 8:30pm

wuzziwig wrote:

Really? I never buy local papers as we get them at work and I end up reading them a week later!! The show grounds is perfect. Any word on what dates it will be on?

Still not able to copy paste the article, exact same dates!

Balagan · 30-04-2015 8:46pm

There's a fair few posh and entitled folks living up near the Showgrounds. Wouldn't count the chickens just yet...

Shapey Fiend · 30-04-2015 9:53pm

I'm posh and entitled and live up the road. I'm prepared to be talked down from my original position of Mundy not being allowed to play to Mundy being allowed to play a set excluding July, Galway Girl and me getting free tickets.

Akrasia · 01-05-2015 10:47am

I play soccer on the astroturf at the rugby club. This might slightly inconvenience me. How do I lodge an objection?

Clareman · 01-05-2015 10:57am

You don't have to lodge an objection, you just have to threaten to lodge an objection and state that you'll bring your objection as far as you can.

Personally, I think it's going to be chaos getting too and from the Showgrounds for an event of this size but I'm delighted it's going ahead, hopefully there won't be any issues so we can have an even bigger event next year.

irish coldplayer · 01-05-2015 2:51pm

Ah wont they again need to go to court to get an alcohol license? and thus provide residents with an opportunity to object?
i.e. the same issue that stopped it from going ahead the fairgreen could happen in the showgrounds too?

Clareman · 01-05-2015 3:12pm

irish coldplayer wrote: »

Ah wont they again need to go to court to get an alcohol license? and thus provide residents with an opportunity to object?
i.e. the same issue that stopped it from going ahead the fairgreen could happen in the showgrounds too?

There's a bar in the Rugby Club so I'd imagine this will stratify a lot of the alcohol issues.

Johnboy1951 · 01-05-2015 3:26pm

Clareman wrote: »

There's a bar in the Rugby Club so I'd imagine this will stratify a lot of the alcohol issues.

But then the organisers would not get the benefit of the alcohol sales which they seemed to believe were necessary for the event to be staged at the previous venue.

There is something odd about all this.

Clareman · 01-05-2015 3:27pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

But then the organisers would not get the benefit of the alcohol sales which they seemed to believe were necessary for the event to be staged at the previous venue.

There is something odd about all this.

There doesn't seem to be a problem when the county show is on and other such events, I'd imagine it would be part of the rental agreement

buck65 · 01-05-2015 4:51pm

Clare Champion, he's some champion

golfball37 · 01-05-2015 6:20pm

I had planned to play a round at Ennis golf club the next morning, how can I object to this event ?

wuzziwig · 01-05-2015 10:45pm

The problem getting the license for the Fair Green was an old bye law that says you can't trade there and that's how the objectors scuppered it. The council could have overturned the law but it would take time and then they had to give time after that for anyone to object to bye law being scrapped. Then it would go to court. Total madness.

Clareman, why do you think it will be a nightmare to get people to & from the showgrounds? It's not that far out of town & is walking distance. It's hardly Slane or the Electric Picnic. Now they are a nightmare!!

irish coldplayer · 08-05-2015 10:09am

Article in the clare people about an application for an alcohol license for the showgrounds for inis fest.
It was adjourned but the article didn't mention any objections in court so it may be going ahead...

crazyguy01 · 13-05-2015 4:05pm

Announcement later today according to the Inis Fest twitter page

INIS Fest 2015 - It's happening!

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