Event Industry Association of Ireland

13/09/2026

EIAI has responded to An Garda Síochána's consultation on the proposed Code of Practice for access to third-party live CCTV feeds.

Our submission focuses on how the framework will operate in practice at festivals, concerts, sporting fixtures and other temporary events, where CCTV may involve organisers, venues, security contractors and specialist suppliers within the same operational environment.

We are calling for clearer guidance on responsibility, authorised access, multi-agency Event Control, operator workload, technical failure, proportionality, audit trails and post-event accountability.
Clear rules will help support lawful Garda access while giving the event industry the practical certainty it needs to comply effectively.

Read the full article 👉 : https://eiai.ie/garda-access-to-event-cctv-eiai-calls-for-clearer-rules-for-temporary-and-multi-party-systems/

EIAI examines Garda access to third-party event CCTV and calls for clearer rules on temporary systems, responsibilities, proportionality and live feeds.

12/09/2026

The HSE Ireland’s latest Safer Nightlife warning ahead of District X Festival is important not only because of the substances being identified, but because of what the programme tells us about how festival safety is evolving.

The HSE Safer Nightlife Programme brings harm-reduction teams and drug monitoring into the live event environment, creating the potential for emerging intelligence to be identified, assessed and communicated while an event is under way. For organisers, that raises practical questions about how information moves between the HSE, Event Control, medical providers, welfare teams, security personnel and communications teams, and how those arrangements connect with the wider Event Management Plan.
This also has a broader relevance for Local Authorities, An Garda Síochána, medical and emergency-service stakeholders, and others involved in event planning and oversight. Effective event safety increasingly depends on the quality of the interfaces between the organiser, specialist services and statutory agencies, particularly when the risk environment can change during the event itself.

Our latest EIAI article looks at what the HSE Safer Nightlife Programme means for event organisers, including operational communications, medical escalation, staff briefing, governance and the implications for 2027 festival planning.

Read more here👉 https://eiai.ie/safer-nightlife-at-festivals-what-event-organisers-need-to-know/

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How the HSE Safer Nightlife Programme connects with festival safety, Event Control, medical provision, communications and event planning in Ireland.

09/09/2026

From 28 September 2026, the statutory minimum hourly rate for workers covered by the Security Industry Employment Regulation Order is due to increase from €15.41 to €16.15, with the impact extending well beyond the headline wage rate.

For event organisers, security is a significant and often unavoidable part of the cost of delivering festivals, concerts, sporting events and other public gatherings. The increase therefore needs to be considered not only in supplier quotations and event budgets, but also in the wider context of professional standards, regulatory compliance and the financial viability of event delivery.

The change also reinforces the importance of maintaining a clear distinction between licensed event security personnel and event stewards. As The PSA Ireland (Private Security Authority) framework makes clear, these roles are not interchangeable, and increasing cost pressure should never result in security functions being transferred to personnel who are not licensed or permitted to carry them out.

This is an issue that sits across several parts of the event and security landscape, involving the Private Security Authority, the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Alan Dillon TD, the Workplace Relations Commission, the Labour Court, the Irish Security Industry Association, SIPTU and An Garda Síochána. Each has a different role, but together they form part of the regulatory, employment and operational environment within which event security is delivered.

EIAI’s latest article looks at what the new rate means in practice, including the wider cost of security provision, PSA staffing requirements, the distinction between security and stewarding, and the questions organisers should now be asking as they prepare budgets and procurement for late 2026 and 2027.

The wider point is simple: if Ireland expects increasingly professional standards across security, safety, employment and event management, the true cost of meeting those standards has to be recognised in the way events are funded, procured and assessed.

Read the full article here 👉 : https://eiai.ie/security-pay-rise-what-event-organisers-need-to-know/

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The security pay increase taking effect on 28 September 2026 will affect event security costs across Ireland. EIAI examines the implications for organisers, staffing, budgeting and safe event delivery.

08/09/2026

Traffic management for major events is about considerably more than cones, signage and directing vehicles, and the arrangements for this week’s Amgen Irish Open in Doonbeg provide a useful example of how transport planning can become part of the operational design of an event.

With thousands of spectators travelling into an area served largely by a rural road network, the approach being implemented by An Garda Síochána and the wider event team does not simply attempt to accommodate more vehicles around the venue. Instead, mandatory Park & Ride, controlled spectator routes, local access arrangements, advance communications and the protection of emergency access are being used to manage how people enter and move through the wider event environment.

For organisers, there is an important lesson in this. A Traffic Management Plan should not simply explain how traffic will be managed once an event has already been designed; where infrastructure is constrained, the capacity of the surrounding transport network should help determine how the event itself is designed.

The arrangements also demonstrate why effective event planning requires coordination well beyond the venue boundary, involving local authorities and agencies such as Clare County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, while also connecting directly with the wider transport, tourism and destination considerations relevant to Department of Transport and Fáilte Ireland.

It is a strong practical example of the kind of integrated thinking Ireland’s event industry needs more consistently, with transport, emergency access, community impact, sustainability, communications and event operations treated as interconnected parts of the same planning process.

Read the full EIAI article below 👇
https://eiai.ie/traffic-management-by-design-what-the-2026-irish-open-can-teach-the-event-industry/

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When thousands of spectators are expected to arrive at the same location within a relatively short period, traffic management is about considerably more than

07/09/2026

From 27 September 2026, new rules on environmental claims will make the way sustainability is communicated even more important for Ireland’s event industry.

The changes arise from the EU Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition framework and have now been incorporated into Irish law by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, with the wider policy development also involving the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) will have an important role in addressing non-compliance.

For event organisers, four actions stand out:

REVIEW - Check websites, ticketing pages, social media, advertising and signage for broad claims such as green, sustainable, carbon neutral, net zero or zero waste.

EVIDENCE - Make sure those claims can be supported by appropriate data, reports, records or certification.

SCOPE - Be precise about what the claim actually covers. An improvement in one part of an event should not imply the same performance across the whole event.

GOVERN - Review future targets, carbon claims and sustainability labels, establish ownership and make sure evidence is captured during planning, delivery and post-event review.

This is not about the event industry talking less about sustainability. It is about ensuring that what we say is specific, measurable and capable of being substantiated.

From 27 September, evidence matters.

Read the full EIAI article here: https://eiai.ie/sustainability-claims-at-events-what-changes-on-27-september-2026/

03/09/2026

The recent images from the aftermath of Reading Festival have reignited a familiar debate around abandoned tents, camping equipment and festival waste.

But this is not just a Reading problem, and it is not just a UK problem. We face many of the same challenges across the Irish festival sector.

Ireland is not starting from scratch. Fáilte Ireland has already developed practical sustainability guidance for festivals, covering waste, transport, procurement, energy, food and beverage, biodiversity and governance. The challenge now is turning that guidance into stronger, measurable outcomes on the ground.

As the 2026 summer festival season comes to an end, we think the industry should be asking some practical questions ahead of 2027.

Are we designing properly for the departure phase, not just the arrival?
If some attendees are going to leave tents and equipment behind, are there controlled collection, reuse or surrender options?
Are we measuring what is generated and what is recovered?
Are sustainability requirements being built into procurement and supplier contracts?
And are we sharing what actually works across the industry?

There is a difference between accepting undesirable behaviour and planning for foreseeable behaviour.

The call to action for 2027 is simple: move beyond sustainability messaging and start designing, measuring and sharing better outcomes.

Fáilte Ireland has helped put the framework in place. The next step is for the wider industry to build on that work, test practical solutions, share results and keep improving.

Read our latest EIAI article:

https://eiai.ie/after-the-festival-sustainability-accountability-and-designing-better-outcomes-for-2027/

For those of us working in Ireland's events industry, however, the images should prompt a more useful conversation. Because this is not simply a Reading

31/08/2026

Did you know that Irish event organisers can actively apply to protect high-demand events from above-face-value ticket resale?

The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021 allows certain venues and individual events to be formally designated. Once designated, secondary sellers cannot sell, or advertise for sale, tickets above their original sale price. Importantly, this is not simply a Government-maintained register that organisers happen to appear on. Event organisers and venue operators can apply for designation themselves. Individual events can be designated without a minimum capacity threshold, while recurring annual or periodic events may also qualify.

Following the recent republication of the Register for Designation of Venues and Events by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, EIAI has put together a practical explainer covering what designation does, who can apply, what organisers need to demonstrate, and why it is worth considering before tickets go on sale.

For organisers expecting strong demand, designation is another tool that can sit alongside ticket limits, authorised resale arrangements, clear ticketing terms and anti-fraud measures to help protect pricing integrity and fair access.

🔗 Read the full article: https://eiai.ie/stop-above-face-value-ticket-touting-before-it-starts-how-irish-organisers-can-use-event-designation/

The prescribed application process requires applicants to provide details of the event, venue and dates, confirmation that the organiser or venue operator

21/08/2026

EIAI is gathering practical feedback from event organisers and industry professionals about their experience of music licensing for events. We want to better understand the specific areas that create difficulty in practice, from identifying the appropriate tariff and estimating costs in advance, to mixed-use events, setlists, box-office information, online licensing and post-event administration.

We are also keen to hear what currently works well and what practical changes could make the process clearer, simpler and more efficient for organisers. This is intended to be a constructive industry exercise. The feedback gathered will help EIAI identify common issues, prioritise practical improvements and inform our future engagement on music licensing for events.

The short survey should take less than five minutes to complete (survey closes Monday 31 August 2026).

Complete the Music Licensing for Events – Industry Feedback Survey https://forms.gle/7XonSBZboZVAtRhh6

If you have direct experience of music licensing through your work in events, we would really value your input. Please also feel free to email us if you have additional feedback: [email protected]

Wedding Band Association Irish Street Arts, Circus & Spectacle Network Irish Showmens Guild Irish Exhibition Organisers Association Music & Entertainment Association of Ireland

16/08/2026

When more than 80,000 tickets sell out for a major national sporting occasion, the public interest doesn’t disappear when the last ticket is sold.

EIAI was pleased to contribute to Ali Bracken’s article in the Sunday Independent looking at the extraordinary demand for tickets for Katie Taylor’s Croke Park fight, the prices now being sought on the secondary market, and the push for a public screening in Katie’s hometown of Bray. The discussion raises a much wider question for Ireland’s events industry.

Fan zones, public screenings and community viewing events can give thousands more people an opportunity to participate in major sporting and cultural moments when tickets are unavailable or unaffordable. But delivering these experiences safely is not simply a matter of putting up a large screen.

They can involve public-space permissions, crowd management, security and stewarding, medical provision, traffic and transport planning, temporary infrastructure, accessibility, insurance, emergency planning and coordination across a number of statutory bodies.

This is where Ireland’s fragmented approach to public events becomes very real. EIAI has been engaging with the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport for several years seeking greater clarity around national responsibility for the wider events industry and a practical route towards a more coordinated framework.

EIAI also formally reached out to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in May seeking clarification on its responsibility for the wider events industry, national event strategy and event safety governance - we await a response. That experience itself illustrates one of the difficulties we are trying to address: responsibility for events touches multiple Departments, agencies and local authorities, but there remains no clearly identified national “home” coordinating the sector as a whole.

EIAI has been calling for a modern, consistent and proportionate national approach, including:
• a Strategic National Events Plan
• a national events support function
• a National Events Centre of Excellence
• a formal process for keeping Ireland’s event Codes of Practice and guidance current

Good event governance should not only be about regulating events. It should also help enable them. If we want major moments such as Katie Taylor’s final fight to be shared by communities far beyond the capacity of the stadium itself, through fan zones, public screenings and other accessible event experiences, organisers and local authorities need a framework that makes those events easier to deliver safely and professionally.

Thank you to Ali Bracken and the The Sunday Independent for including EIAI in this important discussion.

Article Link: https://www.independent.ie/incoming/katie-taylors-hometown-pushes-for-public-screening-of-sold-out-croke-park-fight-as-black-market-ticket-prices-top-3k/a/159919685.html

Events body calls on Government to facilitate ‘viewing parties’

24/07/2026

The newly published Grow the Show: Skills Needs of the Festivals & Events Sector in the West of Ireland, prepared by the Department of Further and Higher Education Research Innovation & Science Regional Skills West in partnership with Galway City Council, calls for a more coherent approach to skills, competency and professional development across the sector.

This new research has highlighted some important priorities for the future development of Ireland’s festivals and events sector.Among its recommendations are:
• a coherent events industry skills and competency framework
• practical training in event safety, risk and compliance
• better understanding of permits, licences and statutory processes
• clearer career and progression pathways
• stronger coordination between event organisers, local authorities and other stakeholders
• improved access to shared resources, guidance and industry networks.

Importantly, the report also recognises that there is currently no consistent national training pathway for local authority staff involved in event review, event safety advisory processes or public event permissions.

At EIAI, we believe these recommendations contribute to a much wider and necessary conversation about how Ireland supports the people responsible for planning, reviewing and delivering events.

A safer, stronger and more sustainable events sector requires more than individual training courses. It requires clearer pathways, proportionate competency standards, practical guidance and better coordination across the whole event delivery system.

We have taken a closer look at the report and what its recommendations could mean for the future of Ireland’s events sector.

👉 Read the full EIAI article: https://eiai.ie/new-grow-the-show-report-calls-for-a-more-coherent-skills-and-competency-framework-for-irelands-events-sector/

EIAI welcomes the publication of Grow the Show: Skills Needs of the Festivals & Events Sector in the West of Ireland, a new report examining the skills,