{"id":94861,"date":"2025-09-30T14:28:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/94861\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T14:28:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:28:09","slug":"independent-ireland-leader-not-happy-as-councillor-seeks-to-halt-bob-vylan-gig-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/94861\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent Ireland leader \u2018not happy\u2019 as councillor seeks to halt Bob Vylan gig \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent Ireland<\/a> leader Michael Collins<\/a> has said he was \u201cnot happy at all\u201d with a party councillor who has taken legal proceedings to try to stop a Dublin gig by punk-rap duo Bob Vylan.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Collins said he will be speaking to Linda de Courcy because of her objection to the licence of Vicar Street<\/a>, saying it cannot be done in Independent Ireland\u2019s name. The TD said he could not stand over a business losing its licence and the threat that could pose to up to 100 people\u2019s jobs. <\/p>\n

Ms de Courcy, a South Dublin county councillor, told Dublin District Court<\/a> on Monday that she was there on behalf of party TD Ken O\u2019Flynn and would be objecting to Vicar Street\u2019s dance and music licence. She added that it was due to serious concerns regarding the scheduled performance.<\/p>\n

Bob Vylan sparked controversy at their Glastonbury performance<\/a> in summer when they led chants of \u201cdeath, death to the IDF\u201d in reference to the Israel Defense Forces and the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The pro-Palestine duo are due to play a headline show at Vicar Street, Dublin, on November 26th as part of their We Won\u2019t Go Quietly tour.<\/p>\n

Mr Collins said that he only became aware of the legal bid when it was reported by the media on Monday evening. <\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly will be honest with you, I am not happy. Independent Ireland are not happy, and it can\u2019t be done in our name,\u201d Mr Collins said. <\/p>\n

He said Ms de Courcy was an \u201cexcellent councillor\u201d and he had \u201cno issue\u201d with her having an objection against the musician. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut an objection against the licence of a business is something I do object to. And I\u2019m fighting every day of the week for businesses to survive inside there,\u201d Mr Collins said, gesturing towards Leinster House. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for that to be done, it\u2019s not done in Independent Ireland\u2019s name. And I will be speaking to Linda de Courcy to make sure that she understands that, because I am not at all happy about what I read.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Collins added that Ms de Courcy had \u201clegitimate reasons\u201d to object to Bob Vylan. \u201cBut the business, to object against it, where there could be up to 100 people who may lose their livelihoods, I certainly will not stand over it and I will not agree to that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms de Courcy had told Dublin District Court on Monday that Mr O\u2019Flynn had already written to Vicar Street over the gig.<\/p>\n

Mr Flynn told reporters on Tuesday that his concerns were with the protocol around the event and the possibility that it could attract protests. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Flynn said he had found it \u201cupsetting\u201d when the act\u2019s frontman Bobby Vylan made derogatory comments about US right-wing activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> after he was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat upset me very much, and that\u2019s why I put pen to paper,\u201d Mr O\u2019Flynn said, adding he believes Vicar Street should respond to him<\/p>\n

Citing the 1879 Henrick Ibsen play A Doll\u2019s House, Mr O\u2019Flynn said he had a high regard for the arts and the way that it can change society. But he said he felt that Bob Vylan had made a career of \u201cspreading hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it disgusting, but that\u2019s my own opinion, and he\u2019s entitled to say what he likes,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Flynn added: \u201cCertainly it\u2019s not our intention to close down anybody. I believe everybody should have the free right to speech.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins has said he was \u201cnot happy at all\u201d with a party councillor who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[60272,8301,18,117,3761,19,7062,17,3857,5001,60700],"class_list":{"0":"post-94861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bob-vylan","9":"tag-dublin-district-court","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-gaza-strip","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-independent-ireland","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","17":"tag-michael-collins","18":"tag-vicar-street"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}