Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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611. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to develop protections for buyers of tickets for sporting, cultural and musical events from so-called ticket touting (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3189/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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On Friday 20 January, I launched a public consultation on the resale of tickets for entertainment and sporting events in conjunction with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. The consultation is being undertaken in response to public concern at the resale of tickets for major entertainment and sporting events at a price often well in excess of their face value. Though ticket resale has been the subject of considerable comment, there is a lack of reliable information about important aspects of the practice, including its incidence, the sources of tickets put up for resale, and the prices achieved, as opposed to advertised, on the secondary ticket market. The aim of the consultation is to provide us with a better understanding of the issue and to help us identify the practical measures that might be taken to give consumers fairer access to tickets in the future.

The consultation paper sets out, and seeks views, on a number of possible measures that might be taken by the parties involved in the organisation of entertainment and sporting events and in the primary and secondary ticket markets, and by Government, to ensure that fans who wish to attend major entertainment or sporting events do not have to pay inflated prices to do so. I would encourage all interested parties - consumers, performers and their representatives, promoters, sporting bodies, primary ticketing services providers, secondary ticket marketplaces and others - to respond to the consultation. Following the consultation process, the possible options for future action will be fully assessed. While legislation to regulate ticket resale is among the measures that will be considered, it is imperative that any such legislation will be effective and targeted and will not give rise to unwelcome unintended consequences such as driving ticket resale underground or diverting it to other countries.