Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see the Minister of State. He know he is always welcome. I would normally agree with Senator Mullen. There is something very uncomfortable about rushing Bills through this House. However, I can fully understand the Minister of State's logic. Westmeath dispatched Laois with ease at the weekend, Kildare will be a mere formality and the Leinster final awaits so I fully understand why the Minister of State needs to get this legislation through as quickly as possible.

Sinn Féin will be supporting the legislation and we are happy to see it before the Seanad. It has been a long time coming. I appreciate the fact that the Minister of State paid tribute to Deputy Quinlivan, who did an awful lot of work on the Bill in 2017. I should also recognise the work of former Deputy Noel Rock, Deputy Stephen Donnelly and others over the past couple of years. This is important legislation that cannot be enacted soon enough.

I welcome the fact that we are able to move this Bill forward. There was much delay in the previous Dáil in respect of a similar Sinn Féin Bill. The basic intention behind the Bill is to prohibit the sale or advertisement of tickets above selling price. This legislation will be good for consumers and bad for ticket touts. I grew up in north London where ticket touts were a major problem. It was a feature of life every Saturday when I would go to see Spurs play. We have all come across it in connection with concerts, football and hurling matches and a host of cultural events so this legislation is very much overdue and it is very welcome that the Minister of State is taking this important as quickly as possible.

The basic intention behind the Bill is to prohibit the sale or advertisement of tickets above selling price. The Bill will be good for consumers and bad for tickets touts. The main aim of the Bill - and of the incarnations that preceded it - is to protect consumers and fans from overpricing. This will promote fair access to events by prohibiting the sale or advertising for sale of tickets for a price exceeding the original sale price for events taking place in designated venues with a capacity of 1,000 or more. In the context of the reopening of venues, we are still in a period of restrictions. I acknowledge how much of a challenge the past year has been not just for the venues but also for artists, sound technicians and other supporting staff involved in the staging of any production, concert or similarly ticketed events.

When many of us think about tickets being sold for more than the original price, we think of those people outside GAA stadiums or other venues selling tickets to fans waiting outside. While this was an issue in the past for consumers who paid over the odds for tickets outside venues, there are more sophisticated organisations that buy tickets on release and subsequently sell them to consumers at higher prices. This is the type of activity that the Bill sets out to curb.

It is important to note that there are welcome exemptions in place on the sale or advertising of tickets or ticket packages by charitable organisations and amateur sports. We all understand how important it is for some of those groups to use tickets like that for their fund raising efforts. This is on the condition that the sale has been approved by the event organisers and the proceeds are used for the funding of the charity or amateur sports organisation.

When we discuss our sporting events and artists, we must remember that without investment in grassroots sports and cultural spaces and support for artists, we will not have any events to go to. There is a good conversation to be had on another occasion in terms of how we deal with greater support at grassroots level for all of our sports.

I echo what others said about free-to-air events. What happened at the weekend was a source of huge frustration for Limerick supporters among others. It is wrong at the best of times not to have a free-to-air option but when pubs are closed and there are no other options to see events, we are literally forcing people back in time 30 years. I know it is not directly related to the Bill, and I appreciate the indulgence of the Cathaoirleach, but it is something that needs to be addressed. I know Senator Crowe raised the matter again this morning on the Order of Business. I thank the Minister of State for his time.