A CO LEITRIM music festival has said it could lose €135,000 because the online platform Tickets.ie has ceased trading and is entering liquidation.
Tickets.ie is Ireland’s largest independent ticketing company. Founded in 2004, it handles ticketing for thousands of music, arts, comedy, educational, family and sporting events annually.

In 2022, German live-entertainment group DEAG acquired a majority stake in the ticket company. 

According to a statement on the Tickets.ie website, the company has “ceased trading and the directors are taking steps to place the company into liquidation and appoint a liquidator over the company”.

“All enquiries should be directed to the appointed liquidator whose details will be published here once appointed,” the statement continued.

Customers with tickets for upcoming events “should wait to hear from the relevant event promoter directly regarding their event”.

The company thanked its “customers, event promoters, and partners for their support and loyalty over many years” and added that it has “been a privilege to serve the Irish events community”.

Speaking to The Journal, the organiser of the Cowboys and Heroes country music festival in Co Leitrim said that the statement on the company website “really took my breath away”.

The festival took place this year in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim over the June bank holiday weekend.

Simon Power said that when he went to the Tickets.ie portal to generate an invoice from festival ticket sales he was shocked to see a notice stating that the company had gone into liquidation.

Aerial shot of this year's Cowboys and Heroes festival Cowboys and Heroes Cowboys and Heroes

Power said he had been frustrated by a “lack of answers” and that he has tried to contact the company multiple times but to no avail.

He added: “It seems quite cynical in terms of timing, they decide to announce this the day after our festival. It’s a difficult situation.”

Power said the festival is “out €135,000”.

“We’re lucky in that we had some outlets selling some tickets on the day,” said Power, “but I can’t carry that.”

He said it “wasn’t a big enough year to be able to absorb that kind of money” and added that he is “not sure where we’re going with it”.

Power said he has dealt with Tickets.ie for a number of years and had a good working relationship with it.

“I’m waiting our legal team to get back to me, but it doesn’t look great.”

He added that the festival is not covered by consumer protections as it’s a business-to-business transaction.

“We’re in total limbo, and it really jeopardises the whole event, which is a huge boost for the local economy and local tourism,” said Power.

“We’ve been running it for 14 years, so it’s incredibly disappointing, and we’re really not sure where we’re going to go with it.

“We just don’t know what is going to be recoverable, that’s the problem.”

The Journal has contacted German company DEAG, as well as the founder of Tickets.ie, John O’Neill but has not received any comment from them.