BAN TICKET TOUTING... EVEN IF IT COSTS JOBS!
New poll shows huge support for TD’s plan to criminalise people selling tickets above cost
THE public emphatically backs efforts to introduce a ban on ticket touting, a new poll reveals. A massive 86% of people say that the Government should put a ban on ‘above-cost price ticket selling’ of events such as concerts and sporting fixtures – even if it results in job losses in the ticketing industry.
The survey by polling company Ireland Thinks was commissioned by Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, who has been working on ticket tout legislation and calls the practice ‘a blight’.
The overwhelming support for such a move comes amid a wave of public anger at touts snapping up large numbers of tickets for major shows, only for them to reappear on secondary sites for huge mark-ups as soon as
the shows sell out. In relation to the survey’s results, Noel Rock said: ‘It is absolutely clear to me that there is overwhelming support for the ban on above-cost price ticket selling.
‘I have been working in this issue since last year, when it came to light that we had no real laws or regulations in place to deal with ticket touting in Ireland.’
The Dublin North West TD went on: ‘Like many people, I’ve been priced out of attending concerts and matches by ticket touts and have found it hugely frustrating.
‘Ticket touting is a blight on our society, ramping up the cost of attending sporting events and concerts.
‘That’s why I’ve proposed a Bill to change the law and make sure that above-cost ticket selling will no longer take place. The law has passed the first stage in the Dáil but it still has a bit further to go.
‘With tickets being offered on reselling sites at exorbitant prices,
‘It’s a blight that ramps up costs’
the momentum towards antitouting legislation is building.’
Earlier this year, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission announced that it had launched a probe into suspected anti-competitive conduct in the ticketing sector.
The development was seen as a possible headache for Seatwave – which is a subsidiary of Ticketmaster, Ireland’s biggest ticketing vendor – along with other thirdparty websites such as Viagogo, needaticket.ie and Stubhub, which also allow users to sell gig tickets at a mark-up. All three may come within the probe’s focus.
Seatwave has been the subject of public controversy over the second-hand sales of tickets for this month’s Dublin concerts by Coldplay and U2.
Tickets for each of the Croke Park gigs sold out in minutes, only to appear a short time later on Seatwave, at a considerable mark-up.
Seatwave allows users to set the price of tickets they are selling – with the site earning a commission from each sale.
U2 tickets were being sold on Seatwave for up to €1,000 after they sold out on Ticketmaster while tickets for Coldplay’s concert next Saturday were being offered for €300 on Seatwave on the morning it sold out last October, with a booking fee of €55.99.
A spokesman for Ticketmaster was contacted about the poll at 8.40pm last night but replied that this was not enough time for the firm to generate a response to the poll or study its findings.
However Seatwave previously hit back at proposed legislation to ban ticket touting.
In a public consultation submission to the Dáil regarding an antiticket touting Bill in May, Seatwave said: ‘[The company] strongly believes that the introduction of legislation to regulate the ticket resale market will be both ineffective and will, in fact, be detrimental to Irish fans.
‘In Ireland, the ticket resale market used to take place underground or offshore – out of reach of any consumer protection... Seatwave offers a safe alternative; a transparent marketplace that provides protection to fans through its fan guarantee.’
The inquiry into suspected anticompetitive conduct in the ticketing sector was launched after Fianna Fáil TD Stephen Donnelly wrote to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, seeking an investigation.
The competition watchdog said its probe would focus those involved in providing tickets and ticketing services, promoters and venues. A number of politicians have been working on introducing new laws to tackle ticket touting.
Earlier this year Sinn Féin proposed their own ticket tout legislation, which the Government decided not to block. This led to a row as Mr Rock had been expecting his Bill to get precedence given his status as a Government TD.
However, former jobs minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor decided at the last minute to introduce a nine-month stay on the Sinn Féin Bill, giving Mr Rock time to get his Bill passed.
Some artists such as Radiohead and Ed Sheeran have introduced measures to clamp down on touts. Sheeran announced on Wednesday that he will play seven Irish gigs next summer but any tickets that are re-sold though thirdparty vendors will not be valid, and ID will be required to gain entry to the gig. Tickets can only be re-sold through Twickets, an official face-value resale partner.
In the Ireland Thinks poll, support for the ban was strongest among the key ticket-buying demographic of 25- to 34-yearolds, 90% of whom support such a move.