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ENTERPRISE MINISTER PETER Burke has said he has asked his department to investigate what supports the government might be able to provide following the collapse of one of Ireland’s largest ticketing companies.
Tickets.ie, Ireland’s largest independent ticketing company, which was founded in 2004, 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.
However, in early June a statement on the Tickets.ie website said the company has “ceased trading and the directors are taking steps to place the company into liquidation and appoint a liquidator over the company”.
It has resulted in one music festival losing €135,000 while other festival organisers have also raised concerns about events going ahead.
Asked about the matter today during Leaders’ Questions, Burke said he accepted that there could be a “gap in the regulatory environment”, stating that it does “concern” him.
“We’re going to have a look at in connection with this, because we want to ensure that maximum protections are afforded to client monies being held by any organisation.
“I know this is clearly in the process of a liquidation, where the rules are very clear in terms of the action the liquidator will take in terms of preferential creditors, and how that process is worked through.
“And obviously you have the court action going on in the background. I have asked my department to investigate what we can do and what support we can have in this regard, but I don’t want to make false promises,” he said.
He said a substantial budget for festivals has already been committed to in the budget, but he added that he is not unsympathetic to the organisers that find themselves caught up in this ordeal.
He said the Rory Gallagher Festival in Ballyshannon, the Cowboys and Heroes festival in County Leitrim and the Rockathon in Fairyhouse are “all very significant events that really contribute very significantly to the locality”.
Burke said he would revert back on gaps in funding to TD Ken O’Flynn who raised the matter in the Dáil, but he said this will have to be gone through properly in the department “to see exactly what we can do to support that”.
O’Flynn said it had caused great distress in communities and volunteer organisations across this country.
“They are precisely the events that rural and small towns in Ireland need, and they are the groups that are now left out of pocket,” he said.
He questioned how ticketing agencies in this state can hold hundreds of thousands of euros belonging to promoters and ticket buyers, but there are no protections, no bond or ring-fencing.
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty also raised the matter in the Dáil, stating that the liquidation of Tickets.ie has had a devastating impact on a number of festivals, including the not-for-profit Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival.
He said organisers are facing in to a €283,000 potential hit due to the liquidation.
“That’s that’s literally wipe out territory that cannot happen. This is an excellent festival that attracts people internationally and keeps the name of Rory Gallagher alive, and it’s really, really important for the local economy,” he said.
Burke said he had to be careful in terms of contacting the parent company, stating that when an entity goes into liquidation, the rules are very clear and are very prescriptive in legislation. He added that a High Court challenge has also been taken.
“When that takes place, when it crystallises, I will obviously look to see… what I can do in the years proceeding… but I don’t want to make any promises, because it’s very early days yet. This is only after happening in the last 10 days, and we want to see the events crystallise, but will do all I can,” said the minister.
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