For some fans, getting to and from Marlay Park in south Dublin for concerts can be as costly as tickets for the showsMarlay Park holds a capacity crowd of 40,000 and is set to host several more large concerts this summer. Photograph: Alan Betson Tue Jun 23 2026 - 15:21 • 4 MIN READReuban Murray paid the same amount for his transport to and from Olivia Dean at Marlay Park on Sunday night as he did for his ticket, having paid €9 to get to the venue and €70 to get home. “The ticket was only 80 quid, so I will definitely have to plan my next trip out to Marlay Park,” the 23-year-old, who works in the charity sector, said.“Marlay Park is a fantastic venue to be at during the concert but everything else outside it doesn’t work very well.“I tried to get the 16 bus from town to Marlay Park but it was packed like sardines, you couldn’t move at all to get in. So it wasn’t stopping.”He ended up getting a taxi with other people at the bus stop who were heading to the concert which he described as “very affordable” at €9 per person, “but it was coming back that I really had the issue”. Murray planned to get the number 16 home to Drumcondra where he is based, but says it was cancelled. He then resorted to trying to get a taxi home. “I started hailing them down and they would say ‘sorry I am booked” and there was one case where a fellah said ‘I’m booked out to Kildare, the booking is for €80, how much will ye offer me to cancel it?’.” Murray would normally expect to pay €35 for a taxi from Marlay Park to his home, but “apparently the traffic was so bad and there was so much congestion in the city he [the taxi driver] had to take the M50″. “I had never done that before in a taxi but it doubled the price and brought it up to €70 and I was really shocked to be honest.”Reuban Murray at Olivia Dean in Marlay Park on Saturday Orlaith Ní Churrain, a recent bachelor of arts graduate from University of Galway left the concert early due to a negative experience she had two years ago after a Hozier concert when she was “stuck” in Rathfarnham with her friend Holly Maguire. “It was insane trying to get home because we stayed for the last song, we were so silly,” Ní Churrain said. “We had to walk and then ring my best friend’s aunt and uncle to come and collect us. We were there for the guts of an hour-and-a-half after the gig trying to get home before we rang them.”This time, the friends left the concert early to get a shuttle bus to Dundrum, before getting the Luas into the city centre. “We knew that we had to leave at the last song, so we were at the corner for a while and we were like ‘okay let’s go’. We left the gig in the middle of Man I Need. We danced our way out, we didn’t see the Irish dancers, no fireworks, no nothing, but it was grand.”Orlaith Ní Churrain and her friend Holly Quirke at Olivia Dean in Marlay Park on Saturday The pair paid €262 for two nights’ accommodation in TUD’s student accommodation in Smithfield. “If it wasn’t Olivia Dean we wouldn’t go. It’s stressful because the roads are closed as well. Even if you wanted a lift, it would be a lot to ask,” Ní Churrain said.Chloe Barrett, a 24-year-old journalist from Cork, is going to see Florence and the Machine at the same venue on Sunday and is “stressed” about transport to and from the event. “I have had three people tell me that Marlay Park is the worst place to get to and from for a concert,” Barrett said. “I have never been before – I have only been to the 3Arena and the Olympia, so I am nervous. Usually I would get the Aircoach back to Cork at night, but because people have told me that it can take an hour-and-a-half to two hours to get out of there, I probably can’t rely on booking a time for an Aircoach because I would be stranded if I miss it.” Chloe Barrett at Zach Bryan in Cork Barrett and her friend have booked Keavan’s Port Hotel on Camden Street for €243, where they know their pre-booked coach will collect and drop them off. The coach itself was €20 which Barrett said was good value, “for the peace of mind more than anything else”. The venue, located on a 300-acre public park in Rathfarnham, Dublin, holds a capacity crowd of 40,000 and is set to host several more large concerts this summer including Lewis Capaldi, The Cure, Florence + the Machine, Mumford & Sons and Pitbull.A spokesman for Dublin Bus said that the service “is employing all available resources” to alleviate the rise in demand due to concerts. Dublin Bus will be dispatching chief inspectors on-street who will assist with queries, the spokesman said, but customers are also encouraged to plan their journeys and allow for extra time to get to their destination. In addition, Dublin Bus is operating a concert express service which runs direct bus routes to concerts in Marlay Park, Malahide Castle and St Anne’s Park. These can be booked online here.There are also coaches to Marlay Park provided by JJ Kavanagh departing from Limerick, Nenagh, Roscrea, Portlaoise, Kildare, Clonmel, Callan, Kilkenny, Waterford and Carlow. Further information on those services can be found here. Marathon also runs a private bus service from Earlsfort Terrace bus stop 1013 in Dublin city centre direct to Marlay Park. Tickets can be purchased here. MCD Productions, the live event promoter behind the Marlay Park gigs, was contacted for comment but did not respond. IN THIS SECTION