Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I thank our guests. I am one of many parents who have been frustrated over the years with young children going to music events and so on. If people are not fortunate enough to be able to purchase tickets online in the early draft they end up going to the secondary market and get scalped for tickets. At sports matches, how is it that so many ticket touts can lay their hands on tickets when supply is tight and when members of the general public cannot get them? While the aspirations of this Bill are laudable and to be commended, there is a danger in getting into a market where supply and demand is at the core. If we could have very visible supply, we would then control the possibility of scalping and retail extortion by secondary selling. How have the witnesses looked at ticket touting and how ticket touts have been able to get tickets for sporting occasions and concert events, particularly in Dublin?