Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Other contributions have started with or contained a lighter note. I am from a similar county to that of the Cathaoirleach and I spend quite a bit of time at all-Ireland finals and semi-finals. This Bill is important for our constituents and people living in our counties.

I welcome the Minister of State and the Bill in general. Most people have spoken about the challenges we have faced in terms of ticket touts over the past 20 or 30 years. Everyone has memories of walking to Croke Park through Jones' Road and seeing people buying and selling tickets. That was the way things were done for a long time. It was very hurtful to genuine fans. In the past five or ten years, ticket touting has turned into a much more professionally run business. Big businesses have been set up on the back of exploiting genuine fans.

It is not a moment too soon that the Bill is being debated. The Minister of State said he hoped the Bill would have been passed earlier but the important point is that it is being passed now and it is welcome on all sides of the House. When the Dáil and Seanad work together we can get good legislation through that will benefit citizens of the country.

It is important that the Bill is enacted quickly because we are in a situation whereby there are test events and spectators at events without massive capacity in stadiums. On Sunday, 3,000 people attended the Clare and Tipperary game. Demand is high and the number of tickets is low. The possibility of exploitation on the part of ticket touts exists. The fact that we are enacting the Bill as quickly as possible is hugely welcome because there is high demand given that people have not been able to go to games for the past two years. Most people who are into sport, including me, want to get back to supporting their county or club and want to get to games. There is a necessity to pass the Bill as quickly as possible.Having that provision in place is important for them to be able to get extra money when they do have tickets that have been donated to them from clubs or organisations.

It is worth noting, and I am keen to put it on the record, that Young Fine Gael brought this forward a long time ago and promoted this measure. The fact that it is coming through now shows the impact that youth-based political organisations and groups like that can have. I wish to acknowledge the good work by Deputy Quinlivan and by Deputy Stephen Donnelly when he was in opposition, as well as my Fine Gael colleague, Noel Rock, who has done immense work on this in recent years.

This goes back to 2017 when U2 were playing concerts in Croke Park and tickets being sold on Ticketmaster's secondary website, seatwave.ie. The tickets were on sale on the Ticketmaster site for €80 or €90 while on the other site, they were being sold for €1,300. It is outrageous that this was allowed to happen for so long. People were being exploited to such an extent for things they really wanted to go to. They believed these were once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to get to see their favourites. They were spending vast sums of money on such events. It was not right or fair. I am keen to put on the record the contribution on ticket touting made by Noel Rock as a Deputy. That is recognised by all.