‘Ticket touts Bill’ to be given a Dáil pass on Thursday

This Bill would be a major blow to ticket touts and other third-party sellers

LIMERICK CITY TD Maurice Quinlivan is due to have his Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural Events) Bill 2017 – to prevent ticket touts from charging exorbitant prices for tickets to matches and gigs – pass unopposed into Committee from the Dáil Thursday, moving on to becoming law.

The Bill has cross-party support and has drawn the ire of Ticketmaster – which is an indication that the Bill is doing something right.

If it becomes law, this Bill would be a major blow to ticket touts and other third-party sellers, making it illegal to resell a ticket for more than 10% of its face value. Anyone in breach of this would be liable to a fine of up to €5,000.

There is a provision in the Bill exempting the reselling of tickets for charity fundraising.

A similar Bill was introduced by Fine Gael backbencher Noel Rock TD and Stephen Donnelly (who is now with Fianna Fáil) in January.

The big glitch in the Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil Bill, however, is the ban on the reselling of tickets online, a restriction that could prevent people from using Facebook to sell tickets to friends if they can’t make an event.

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said:

“Deputy Rock’s legislation could penalise ordinary punters who need to sell their personal tickets at face value due to an inability to attend for whatever reason.”

Maurice Quinlivan’s Bill does not stop ordinary music and sports fans from selling their tickets to friends or other individual fans.

Fine Gael’s Noel Rock, possibly sore over his colleagues in Cabinet deciding to not oppose Maurice Quinlivan’s Bill, decided to run to the Irish Daily Mail about the origins of the Bill. What Rock forgot to mention was that the Bill he had submitted was substantially the same as one that Denis Naughten (now Minister Naughten) submitted back in 1998 and 2005 – one that Rock had previously said was based on Belgian legislation!

Fianna Fáil have also indicated that they will support the Bill, with Stephen Donnelly sending a message of support to Quinlivan.

While ‘New Politics’ has not produced much in the way of legislation, this is another Sinn Féin Bill that is making good progress through the Dáil.

◼︎ Meanwhile, Pearse Doherty’s Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill – which would strengthen the Financial Services Ombudsman and the customer complaints process against banks – looks set to be the first Opposition Bill to become law in the 32nd Dáil in the coming weeks. ENDS