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CONCERNS HAVE BEEN raised by ticket sellers about plans by the government to ban the above price reselling of tickets, arguing that the sector is seeking to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment will this morning hear an update from officials on the general scheme of the Sale of Tickets Bill 2020.
The bill is aimed at dealing with the problem of so-called ticket-touting for major events, such as sports matches and concerts at venues with a capacity of 1,000 people or more.
The bill proposes to ban the above price resale of tickets for live events at such venues and proposes penalties of a fine of up to €100,000 or up to two years imprisonment.
Ahead of the committee’s meeting, a briefing note outlined some of the submissions received by stakeholders ahead of pre-legislative scrutiny of the bill.
Among the submissions received, the briefing note recorded that ticket sales company Tickets.ie suggested that the government put the proposed bill on hold for 12 months and “prioritise the shaping of the re-emergence of the live events sector”.
Tickets.ie also argued that the legislation is only “a sticking plaster” and that the ticket resale market “exists due to a failure of the live events industry to address its pricing problem”.
Live Nation, the global live music entertainment company and owner of Ticketmaster, also raised concerns about the timing of the bill.
In its submission it noted the impact of the pandemic on the sector and stated that “the current priority must be to get the sector working again”.
Live Nation adds the bill “imposes new conditions on the market” and that the prohibition of resale in other countries drove people to “disreputable offshore platforms”.
Officials speaking on behalf of the department will also tell the committee that Covid-19 restrictions at events “in the not too distant future” may require attendance restrictions and that this may “increase the competition for tickets” and could “create both incentive and opportunity for the resale of tickets at inflated prices”.
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Great to see – now lets really tackle packaging waste and force business to make the environmentally correct choice when choosing their packaging – We need to get rid of plastic bottles, plastic wrapping and one off coffee cups and lids
@brian boru:
Bring in another tax…..
@P.J. Nolan: not all taxes are bad – some make sense and others are just greedy – if taxes make it cost effective for a business to do the right thing then it is a good tax in my book. Some are greedy and corrupt like the Irish water plan and need to be fought but smart taxation can be beneficial to society.
All the chocolate bar companies have moved to plastic wrapping because it costs less. Like wise the soft drink companies have moved to plastic bottles because they are prettier. Neither are thinking about the environment and need to be forced to rethink their packaging plans. Taxation is the fastest route to getting these huge companies to change their game plan at the speed we need it to happen.
@brian boru: I would be far more comfortable if chocolate bars once again came in paper and foil. I know they wont recycle the foil but i’m sure it does far less than damage to the environment than plastic.
@Darren Byrne: The plastic gives a longer shelf life so the chocolate companies are using it to give them higher margins at the cost of the environment. Regulatory needs to step in and drive a higher cost to the manufacturer for using the plastic due to the environmental cost. Am sure if the right pressure was applied a solution could be arranged that worked for everyone. The only lever I can think of in this situation is taxation as expecting people to make the change will take generations.
@brian boru: I’m sure it does give longer shelf life, but surely chocolate is a fast-selling item with a high turnover rate? And once bought? I’ve often eaten a square or two and put it away for a week or so, okay, I’m odd, but a lot of people seem to eat bars very quickly once they have some in the house – I’ve even heard of people freezing a bar to keep it for later. I honestly don’t see chocolate as being in any danger of going off before it’s consumed.
It’s fantastic the system works, now let’s solve the plastic bottles ( bottle water ) and the coffee cup problem .
Great and more to be done… especially with plastic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/plasticpledge/?beta=true
Where are all the reusable items stripped out of the WEEE appliances. Is it Ireland, UK, Europe.
Surely it’s not Africa where all that toxic stuff is released in both the air and the soil/water, by burning all that plastic stuff that covers wires and other components by folks trying to scrape a living together ?
Any answers appreciated. Hope I’m wrong.
Is a dildo a small appliance? Just asking
@Seriously stunned: that all depends on the wife’s choice in style
@Seriously stunned: that all depends on the wife’s choice in style
If domestic appliances were designed and built to last longer than the now average 5 to 10 years lifespan then recycling would be greatly reduced.The average lifespan of some appliances twenty or thirty years ago was averaging ten to twenty years .Most appliances now have built in obsolescence.
Great, but after the specials on Aldi and Lidl this Sunday, we’ll need extra capacity!
You are going to have a great bunch of lads moistening their lips when you talk about that much copper
This just demonstrates the amount of junk we buy throw out and replace. Thats not sustainable
have your say