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