Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As outlined by my colleague, an Teachta Quinlivan, Sinn Féin welcomes the Bill. It has been a long time coming and, as noted by the Tánaiste and Deputy Quinlivan, there have been several attempts to get this done. It is welcome that we are having this discussion. It is regrettable that the opportunity to run with the Bill introduced by Deputy Quinlivan was not taken in the previous Dáil but, as was stated, we are where we are. Sinn Féin is not precious about solutions to this issue. We want to be constructive and work with all parties to ensure the safe and swift passage of the Bill.

I know that during the course of the debate there will be reference to fans and true fans, etc., but we should spare a thought also for parents who have to bring their kids to gigs of which they may not be fans. As presents, etc., for their kids, they are forced not just to pay over the odds for tickets for the kids, but to pay over the odds for tickets for themselves, which is incredibly cruel. Having accompanied my daughter to some quite questionable gigs while she was growing up and at which she had to have an adult with her, much and all as she did not like it, paying face value was bad enough. Having to pay more than face value would be a step too far even for the most devoted of parents. In solidarity with them, the Bill is very welcome. They now will not have to pay over the odds. It is bad enough to have to sit through a couple of hours at a particular gig - I will not name the artist because my daughter would be mortified - without knowing that you are being gouged at the same time. That just drives people up the wall.

As the Tánaiste will be aware, parts of the Bill are dated. Of course, that can be tidied up on Committee Stage. The section regarding UEFA 2020 and those games in particular reminds me, and others who have more of an interest in this than I do, of what could have been. It is a pity that those games will now be played in other host cities. I heard the Taoiseach state that the decision to withdraw the games and move them to London and Russia was out of order. However, the decision was made because the Government could not guarantee a 25% spectator attendance at the Aviva Stadium. I do not think the remarks of the Taoiseach were helpful; I think they were silly. It is not the fault of UEFA that the Government could not roll out the vaccination programme quickly enough to allow us to have the requisite level of spectators in the Lansdowne Road stadium. If one looks up the road to the North or across the Irish Sea, one will see spectators at games outdoors and at indoor sports. There was recently a full house in the Crucible to watch the World Snooker Championship final. The English league cup final had 8,000 spectators in attendance. From Monday, 17 May, stadiums in England will be allowed to operate at 25% capacity or have up to 10,000 fans. While others are getting things done, the Taoiseach simply blames other people. I do not think that is helpful or productive. It is regrettable that the UEFA games will now be held in other cities.

Nevertheless, when we work our way through the Covid crisis and get back to having attendees at live music and sporting events, this legislation will make a discernible difference. For too long, ticket touts have profiteered off ordinary supporters and fans who love music and sport. How often have we heard crazy stories of supporters having to pay hundreds of euro for a ticket to the All-Ireland final or an important football or rugby international? The same was the case every summer, when tickets for Electric Picnic and other festivals were being sold at absolutely astronomical prices. As outlined by Deputy Quinlivan, it was not the fellas standing outside the stadium asking if anyone was buying or selling tickets; these were actually very organised companies that were effectively operating as ticket touts and profiteering off people's love of music. I hope that through the implementation of the Bill we will address these issues and bring an end to these practices.

On another note, without investment in grassroots sports and cultural spaces and support for artists, we will not have any events to go to. I think that is sometimes lost on Deputies. If one goes outside this Chamber and speaks to the sporting community or to artists, they will say that the lack of support from the State is damaging their ability to develop the next generation of football, Gaelic games or rugby players and is suppressing the ability of artists to grow and develop. The State likes to pride itself on the artists who have come from here. I use that phrase very specifically because, in many ways, although they come from here, they are developed and helped to grow in London, Glasgow, Berlin and elsewhere. They leave to pursue their artistic dreams in cities and countries that will help to foster their talent and help them to flourish but, when they do flourish, then Ireland loves to claim them. The State loves a finished product that someone else helped to develop. If you are famous, we want to know all about you, but successive Governments have never wanted to invest and help them to achieve their potential and their dreams at home. Instead, the Government presides over the destruction of cultural spaces and a dearth of public spaces for the arts, music, drama and so on. Most artists who stay here and fulfil their potential will say that they do so in spite of, and not because of, the State. All the problems I have mentioned, such as a lack of creative and cultural spaces among others, are accompanied by a lack of affordable housing, poverty wages, grants that take weeks to apply for and nearly always result in a negative response and astronomical insurance costs which are a barrier for all artists, musicians, visual artists, those in drama and others in putting on shows. If we want to have gigs, festivals, theatre productions, art shows and galleries, we have to fund the creation of this brilliant art. We will pass this legislation and it will clamp down on ticket touting but if the State persists in driving artists from our towns and cities and pushing them into the arms of cities such as London, Liverpool, Berlin and Glasgow, there will be no future gigs to which to go.

The same applies in the case of football players. What does the State do? It pushes them abroad to fulfil their talent. For many decades, the failure of the FAI in the first instance and the State in the second instance to provide career pathways and top-level technical and tactical training has meant that young boys in particular have had to leave on planes or boats at 15 or 16 years of age to go to Scotland or England just to fulfil their talent and be able to make a career for themselves. Surely, given the implications of Brexit in the area of football, we can invest in order to provide for young footballers here in this State. That means that grassroots football needs to be supported to recover from decades of mismanagement at the highest level - we have had plenty of discussions about that. The same goes for rugby and Gaelic games. If we are not ensuring that these organisations and young people are funded and supported properly, there will be no ticket touts to clamp down on because there will be no worthwhile days out in Thurles, no evenings in MacHale Park, no day in the sun in Killarney or Clones, no rugby in Thomond Park or the RDS, no football in Turner's Cross, Tallaght Stadium, Finn Park or Dalymount, and there most certainly will be no big days out at Croke Park or Lansdowne Road.

If we want to have a vibrant arts culture and sporting scene, we have to fund it. It really is that simple. Too often, people look at the moneys invested but never take into account the benefit that is derived from it. How much of the funding for arts, culture and sport is repaid hand over fist when people go to an art exhibition, the cinema, the theatre, a gig in Whelan's or a football match at Tolka Park? That is before one even gets into the revenue generated from tens of thousands of people going to an All-Ireland championship match, a festival or a big gig. Funding for arts, culture and sport is an investment. It is an investment in people, communities and countless hours of enjoyment and the public who benefit from that.

I am sure the Tánaiste will agree that we all missed the arts. The last year has been absolutely awful. I had the chance to go to a socially-distanced gig in town. I went to see the comedian Tadhg Hickey, which was absolutely brilliant, but it was nearly a year ago now and is the only arts experience I have had during the past year. We really missed the arts when they were gone. We said how awful it was that we could not go to a gig and have that shared and collective experience, but the simple fact is that if we do not invest in the arts then all of the legislation to clamp down on ticket touting will not make any difference because there simply will not be those gigs to go to. We do not want to turn into a place known only for hosting big international gigs. That is brilliant and absolutely fantastic if one gets the opportunity to go, but we need to resource local and community events. If we do not ensure we have cultural spaces, truly public spaces, such as municipal sporting stadiums that can host football and include a library, studios, crèches and gyms, and provide a truly public utility, there will be no gigs or events worth going to.

As outlined by my colleague, I reiterate that we will support this legislation. It is regrettable that it has taken this long, but it has. It behoves all of us to ensure we get this legislation through quickly so that it can be implemented quickly and we can take money from the ticket touts. They do not deserve that hard-earned money. As the Tánaiste outlined, none of that money goes to artists, sound engineers, or the people checking tickets, doing security, cleaning venues and putting up and taking down the rigs. They do not benefit at all. A very small number of people benefit. I absolutely welcome this legislation and Sinn Féin will work to ensure its swift passage.

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