Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to respond and I thank Members for their contributions. It is clear that there is a great deal of support and agreement on the need for legislation, the tightening of the rules and fair play. This has been acknowledged in all interventions. At its base, the Bill has the desire to address the issue of so-called ticket touting which has received, as I stated, widespread media and social media commentary in recent months. The responses in the public consultation process, which closed at the end of March, contain a considerable amount of useful information about the operation of the primary and secondary ticket markets, the scale of ticket resale, the sources of tickets put up for resale and the price levels achieved on the secondary ticket market. They also reveal sharp differences of view on possible future measures. I note that my colleague, Deputy Rock, who also produced a Bill on this issue, is planning a dialogue with all parties that made submissions as part of the Minister's public consultation. He is inviting them to come together and discuss their views on implementation ahead of the Bill moving to Second Stage.

I commend Deputy Quinlivan on the Bill. The Government has made a commitment to deal with the ticket touting issue for UEFA 2020 and the Rugby World Cup 2023. I hope it is dealt with well in advance of that. This will not be delayed by the current exercise. Deputy Niall Collins acknowledged the constitutional issue of property rights and whether one can go down the route of licensing. It is clearly a complex matter when constitutional issues are at stake. Deputy Eugene Murphy acknowledged the importance of the matter and reaching agreement on a resolution.

Deputy Martin Kenny commented that everyone agrees. I accept that. Deputy Crowe commented on the role of Revenue and whether these ticket sites are making money and paying their taxes. Revenue could be asked to make a submission to the committee during its hearings about any sites that are involved in ticket sales. I also understand that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission-----

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