Sinn Féin spokesperson on Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Maurice Quinlivan condemned the continued abuse of the entertainment ticketing process in Ireland.
The Limerick City TD said; “The plague of ticket touting continues, despite numerous calls from political parties, consumer groups and fans seeking action to stop this unfair practice.
“Today we again see Irish consumers getting ripped off due to the lack of regulation in the sale of tickets for sporting and cultural events.
“Tickets for a Britney Spears concert in Dublin in August went on pre-sale yesterday, and are scheduled to go on general sale tomorrow, but already ticket touts are selling tickets for over €1,000 on secondary selling sites, over ten times the face value of the tickets.
“It’s disgraceful that touts are still allowed to get away with this, and yet the government are still refusing to deal with the issue.
“I introduced a Bill in March, the Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural Events) Bill 2017, which would have stopped this abuse of the entertainment ticketing system in Ireland. This piece of legislation would have capped the resale of tickets at 10% above face value, preventing this continued abuse of the market, whilst at the same time ensuring fans can sell on their tickets if they can no longer attend a concert or match.
“The Bill came before the Dáil in May and Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil voted together to kick my Bill down the road for at least nine months, simply because it was a Sinn Féin Bill.
“The nine months expires in February, and my Bill will then move to Committee Stage where we can invite stakeholders in to discuss the provisions of my Bill and address the ticket touting problem once and for all.
“Legislation in this area is badly needed, and I look forward to proceeding ahead with my Bill next month that will address this problem.” He concluded.
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