Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty has said it works out cheaper for Bruce Springsteen fans to fly to Rome to see his concert than it is to stay one night in a Dublin hotel.
Speaking in the Dáil on ‘rip-off hotel prices’, Doherty called on the government to do something about the ‘circus’ situation in Dublin.
Deputy Doherty said: “Bruce Springsteen is coming to town next year to play three nights at the RDS. So out of control have hotel prices become that a caller, Stephen, from the west called in to Ocean FM today to explain that the cost to see Bruce Springsteen and to stay in Dublin for a night was so high that he looked at alternatives. He found it is €200 cheaper for the concert ticket, the flight and a night in Rome than to travel up the road to Dublin and stay a night in a hotel here after the concert.
“Stephen and his friends are flying off to Rome to see Bruce Springsteen in the Circus Maximus instead of the RDS, replacing one circus with another.”
Addressing Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, Deputy Doherty said: “We have a Minister who wants people to travel less while the accommodation crisis in the city is making people travel more. We could not make this up. I am going to ask the Minister again as I have been doing for weeks now what the Government is going to do about the rip-off hotel prices that are being charged in this city.”
Minister Ryan replied that the Minister for Tourism, Catherine Ryan, will “work on it”.
“The Tánaiste and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment also have a role,” Minister Ryan said.
“It is a real issue. It is not good for Dublin or for anyone. What is happening has to stop. “
