Ticket touting and the reselling of tickets above ticket price could be a thing of the past in Ireland in the future.
The Irish government has today approved The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021 today which will ban the resale of tickets above face value to live events, matches, concerts in designated venues and for specific events.
Venues with a capacity of 1000 people up have to apply for special designation to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment so that the Bill applies to that venue. When designated, reselling of tickets above the original sales price for that venue will be prohibited.
So the legislation isn’t mandatory and applies on a venue by venue or event by event basis.
The legislation also provides that event organisers or venue operators may apply for the designation of events (i.e. festivals) which takes place on an annual or other periodic basis in the same venue.
When a ticket is sold for an event which has been designated or which is to take place in a designated venue then the original seller must be given clear information (with the ticket and when advertising) that tickets cannot be resold above face value for the event in question. Resellers of these tickets must also provide information on the original sale price of the ticket and the location of the seat or standing area to which, the ticket entitles the holder to gain admission.
Anyone found selling tickets above cost price and subsequently found guilty of an offence under the act will face a fine of up to €100,000 or up to two years imprisonment.
The law should be enacted before 11th June, the planned date for the Euro championships was to start this summer.
The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021 was agreed by Government today and will be published by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD and the Minister of State with responsibility for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Robert Troy TD shortly. It will then be introduced to Dáil Éireann at the earliest opportunity, with enactment as early as possible thereafter.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
