Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment launches Report on Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2020

In its report launched today, Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2020, the Committee makes seven recommendations that it believes will strengthen the proposals from the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD.

The scrutiny report on the General Scheme brought forward by the Minister last year follows engagement with officials from the Department and consideration of written submissions from stakeholders, including sporting organisations, event promoters, ticket sellers, consumer groups and legal experts.

The Committee recommends that consideration be given to including civil sanctions under an enforcement authority, such as the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, alongside the criminal penalties proposed for breaches of the legislation.

It further recommends that consideration be given to regulating the sale of tickets on primary markets to ensure that consumers are fully informed of the quantity of tickets for sale by that seller and the remaining tickets available.

Committee Chairman Maurice Quinlivan TD said: “For many years now events like sports matches and concerts have suffered from an uncontrolled secondary sale of tickets or ticket-touting. A number of Private Members’ Bills have been introduced, including my own in 2017, to curb the opportunistic trade in event tickets that lead to inflated prices and uncertainty in the availability of tickets.

“While it has not been possible to hold large public events over the past year due to the pandemic, there can be no doubt about the need for steps to be taken to protect the general public from abuse once we are again able to enjoy attending big matches, concerts and festivals.

Deputy Quinlivan said the Committee broadly welcome the Minister’s proposals to address this long-standing problem, promoting fairer access to events in designated venues by prohibiting the sale of tickets for a price exceeding the original sale price.

He said: “This Committee and the previous Committee have done a lot of work on this with stakeholders and considered many submissions on the issue of ticket-touting and selling tickets above face value. This is the second report the Committee has produced on this issue and we have made a number of recommendations which we believe will improve the Minister’s Bill in practice.

“We now hope the Government will look favourably on our proposals and act decisively to legislate as quickly as possible, especially with the rescheduled Euro 2020 finals now due to take place this summer in Dublin and other European cities. The Bill proposes banning the unauthorised sale of tickets for the tournament, and we believe this should be treated as a priority should public health conditions permit the games to go ahead.”

Other recommendations for inclusion in the legislation when it comes before the Dáil and Seanad include:

• The application for designation of a venue be opened to both venue operators and event operators;
• Specific provisions be included to take into account events in ‘green field’ venues;
• Consideration be given to how the tickets sold as part of hospitality/travel packages will be treated, as this may lead to a loophole in the legislation.

The report Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2020 is available on the Oireachtas website.

The Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employments has 14 Members, nine from the Dáil and five from the Seanad.