Ticket touting bill to be debated on Thursday

Ticket touting will be banned in Ireland under a new private member’s bill to debated at the second stage in the Oireachtas this Thursday.

Maurice Quinlivan, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson for jobs, enterprise and innovation, said he hoped the Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural Events) Bill 2017 would receive cross-party support.

He said: “The re-selling of tickets is not benefitting the public, the music artists, or sports teams involved and is tarnishing the experience for many.

“My Bill aims to address these issues and give everyone a fair opportunity to buy tickets to these events, while also making the re-sale of tickets unprofitable for ticket touts, and so would address the problems that currently plague concert, festival and sporting goers.

“This Bill will also ensure that Ordinary people who need to re-sell their ticket for genuine reasons would be facilitated, by allowing for the secondary resale of tickets with a maximum profit margin of 10 per cent.

“This would ensure that those looking to sell tickets at hugely exorbitant prices will have the profits from those sales eradicated by fines. Breaches of the 10 per cent resale limit will result in fines of up to €5,000.”