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FIANNA FÁIL SENATOR Timmy Dooley is to introduce legislation that would ban so-called dynamic pricing in order to protect consumers from being “ripped off” when buying tickets for cultural events.
Dooley and his party colleagues TDs Jim O’Callaghan and Niamh Smyth will introduce the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) (Amendment) Bill 2024, a private members’ bill, today.
The move to ban the practice comes after the cost of Oasis concert tickets caused uproar among the public. Dynamic pricing meant that ticket prices rose in line with demand, so people ended up paying much higher prices than they expected to.
The high prices led numerous politicians to call for an investigation into the ticket sales giant Ticketmaster.
Dynamic pricing is used in other industries too, for example by airlines and hotels.
The new Bill would extend the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021 so that it prohibits the sale of tickets or ticket packages for prices that have been adjusted by primary ticket sellers through the process of dynamic pricing, a Fianna Fáil statement said.
“This is a consumer issue. This is about protecting consumers from being ripped off by technological practices,” Senator Dooley said.
“People attending any event, not just concerts, should be confident that when they are waiting in an online queue to purchase a ticket they will pay the price that was initially advertised.
“Over the weekend, this was not the case for fans of Oasis. After waiting in an online queue fans were met by ‘in demand’ tickets that were for sale at over €400 each.
“We all recognise that online sales have revolutionised ticketing and nobody wants a return to the days of queues down the street and around the corner from a ticket office.
He said the “emerging practice of dynamic pricing must be nipped in the bud”before it becomes commonplace for other events like the All-Ireland final.
The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act came into effect in 2021 and banned the reselling of tickets above face value, commonly called ticket touting.
O’Callaghan said the original Act must be extended “so we can protect fans from the experience of seeing ‘in demand’ tickets jumping significantly above the asking price that was initially advertised.”
Meanwhile, the UK’s competition watchdog has today launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over Oasis concert ticket sales there.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its investigation would include how so-called dynamic pricing may have been used and would scrutinise whether the sale of Oasis tickets by Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law.
The investigation would consider whether Ticketmaster had engaged in unfair commercial practices, if people were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to dynamic pricing, and if consumers were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time – at a higher price than they understood they would have to pay.
CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said: “It’s important that fans are treated fairly when they buy tickets, which is why we’ve launched this investigation.
“It’s clear that many people felt they had a bad experience and were surprised by the price of their tickets at check-out.”
With reporting from Press Association
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This is what happens when you rush reforms. Wait until Juniour Cycle is fully operational – then there will be chaos. Reform should have started with bringing an element of project work at Leaving Cert. Now we have students doing a Junior Cycle that ill-prepares them for Leaving Cert
@P Quinn: Ricard bruton will go down as one of the worst ministers for education ever. Teachers still don’t know how to implement the new Junior cycle and the ones training them in don’t know what they’re doing either. All to fudge the numbers to look good internationally. FG are a crowd of con artists.
The points race here is the problem not necessarily the lc or jc courses.. that’s where the pressure is coming from!
I think some small adjustments to syllabus would help but largely it’s the whole cao system that the pressure is coming from. That’s what needs looking at here
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: totally agree. I actually don’t think the wider public are aware of what changes have taken place at JC. There is now only higher and ordinary level options in English, Irish and maths. Everything else is a common level paper. It’s forcing all students towards the middle and then they have to go onto LC. Bruton was a disgrace as minister, all initiatives and bluster.
@P Quinn: 100% idiot. He’s a slithery shnake that helped and is helping suck the lifeblood out of teaching. He even looks like a chameleon.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: I take it that you don’t like Mr Bruton? Perhaps you should use more reasoned argument to make your point rather than resorting to such a venomous attack. (No pun intended.)
@Deborah Blacoe: I’ve no problem calling him that. I’m sure many others would too. FG have a policy of draining resources from education and then coming up with hairbrain ideas to counteract this to appear we are performing well internationally. Like health, housing and most things, education is crumbling.
@Deborah Blacoe: a more reasoned argument-we have the worst investment in early education in Europe. Our class sizes are the highest in Western Europe. Less than 11% of our budget goes towards it compared to 13-16%, the European average. Pay parity has not been restored and teachers are continuing to leave for better opportunities. Less ppl are taking up teaching courses. We already have a huge skills gap and can’t fill positions in secondary and this will continue to get worse if investment isn’t increased dramatically.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: Excellent reasoning skills! 10/10. Go to the top of the class. Sorry for that, couldn’t help myself. I hear you loud and clear. And I don’t disagree. I wonder what happens to politicians between when they start out on their political career and when they reach the dizzy heights of government? The political life appears to be the best learning ground for subterfuge and the most unwelcome forms of compromise. Mr Bruton was the first politician I voted for over 40 years ago. Both he and George Birmingham (now Justice Birmingham) were the bright lights in our constituency. I was never a ‘party’ person. My vote has always been a considered one, but I took an interest in Mr Bruton’s career. That bright star has dimmed a little. Such is life.
@Deborah Blacoe: there was no offence taken, don’t worry. Agree 100%. Politics is a cesspit that would turn the most righteous of ppl into the biggest of mé féiners. I’d be aligned with the Russell Brand strand of politics and just scrapping the whole system and starting again after the failure that was Anglo being allowed to fail in the manner that it did. I just don’t trust most ppl that go into politics so quick without getting a rounded scope and view of the world. He just comes across as a careerist politician. Coming out with the shcuther that Ireland will be the best education system in Europe in 10 years when he has no plans to invest properly and implementing a new syllabus that has been proven to have failed but he decides to push on anyway because it looks progressive. We now have children who are less prepared for the leaving cert and will be under more stress compared to those before them. I anticipate that there will be higher suicide rate among leaving certs next year. That’s why I despise the guy. It’s all about optics.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: the biggest problems with the current education system are that 1) it is outdated and 2) it is geared for winning points. The academic subjects introduced so far back in time, when the industrial revolution was happening across Europe, are the ones which earn most credibility. This path should no longer be followed exclusively. The development of the ‘whole’ child is imperative towards maximizing skills and options. Otherwise it will be a system which will increasingly polarize goals and waste the opportunity to nurture a cross section of abilities. The level of merit awarded to academic success by society has to change. Only then can we achieve the diversity necessary in our education system in order to fuel a changing workplace.
@P Quinn: Do you want some really bad news? If the present ‘reforms’ are deemed to be ‘successful’ there is a further plan to have completely common papers for JC English, Maths and Irish. So, never mind Foundation, there will be no Higher or Ordinary any more.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: that’s absolutely disgraceful and completely irresponsible
It’s called ‘dumbing down’ so everyone passes. While I agree we should be encouraging our youth, it’s another example of nanny state.
Both Micky mouse exams when it comes down it
@Barry Zuckerkorn: They might be Mickey Mouse to you, but they are very important to those students that are sitting them, and cause many of them a lot of stress.
It’s mainly due to the increase in points needed for most basic courses in decent universities and colleges .
Considering the maximum amount of points you can get for an ordinary subject is 56
Taking basically everything in higher is the only option you have if you want a decent course.
@Jason Byrne: For the most part, the points required is set by the students that get offered a place. If a course has 100 places and is filled on the first round, then the student with the 100th best points score will set the points – the last student to be offered a place in round 1!
The problem is, as subject reform occurs, subjects often get easier. This allows the more able student to get more points, and points for courses go up.
In certain instances, the Universities can cap the points level for a course.
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