'Blatant price gouging' on Six Nations tickets, TD says

Ottoline Spearman

A Fine Gael TD has expressed serious concerns about the prevalence of "ticket touting", despite the introduction of legislation to ban the practice.

Ticket touting is where tickets for popular sporting and cultural events are resold at prices far above their face value.

Offaly TD John Clendennen has said that tickets for this weekend’s crunch Six Nations rugby clash between Ireland and Scotland at the Aviva are for sale online for exorbitant prices.

The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021 was brought into force to protect consumers and ensure fair access to popular events by limiting the resale of tickets above their face value.

However, tickets for many high-demand concerts, matches and cultural events are still widely available on resale platforms at significantly inflated prices.

Tickets for major sporting and cultural events should be accessible... not snapped up and resold at hugely inflated prices by opportunistic touts

Clendennen: “Ireland is due to take on Scotland in a rugby international this Saturday in the Aviva. A quick scout on various websites show tickets available from an eye-watering €3072, to €217.34[1]. These tickets originally went on sale from as little as €60[i], with premium tickets priced from €185.

“This is blatant price-gouging and raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of the legislation and the level of enforcement.

“Tickets for major sporting and cultural events should be accessible to ordinary fans and families, not snapped up and resold at hugely inflated prices by opportunistic touts,” he said.

“The intention behind the 2021 Act was clear, to ensure fairness and transparency in the ticket market and to protect customers from being exploited.”

Clendennen said that while the legislation provides the necessary framework to address ticket touting, its effectiveness ultimately depends on robust enforcement.

He said that extra resources for gardaí or the Competition and Protection Commission should be considered, if deemed necessary.

He also said that organisers of events - in this case the IRFU - must clamp down on price gouging too.

“Fans should be able to attend events they love without being priced out by ticket touting," he said.

"We must ensure that the law is upheld and that the legislation that’s there is doing its job.”