Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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241. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on whether the existing situation with regard to the sale of tickets to concerts, sports matches and other events, predominantly by a single company (details supplied) amounts to a monopoly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23223/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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242. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on whether the existing situation with regard to the sale of tickets to concerts, sports matches and other events, predominantly by a single company (details supplied) is in breach of competition rules; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23224/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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243. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position regarding any engagement he has had with a company (details supplied) in relation to the provision of fair market competition in the sale of tickets to concerts, sports matches and other events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23225/26]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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244. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the actions he is taking to ensure that there is a fair and competitive market regarding the sale of tickets to concerts, sports matches and other events, predominantly by a single company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23226/26]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 241, 242, 243 and 244 together.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory body responsible for promoting compliance with and enforcing competition law in Ireland. Section 9 (5) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the CCPCis independent in the performance of its statutory functions.

In January 2017, the CCPC opened an investigation into suspected anti-competitive practices in the ticketing industry, examining activities which took place from 1 January 2012 to 13 March 2020.

As part ofitsextensive investigation,the CCPC came to the preliminary view that Ticketmaster held a dominant position in the market for the supply of outsourced primary ticketing services on the island of Ireland and that it had abused this dominant position by entering into long-term exclusive agreements with live event organisers and venues, and that such agreements had as their effect the prevention, restriction and/or distortion of competition.Ticketmaster did not agree with the CCPC’s preliminary findings.

At the time, Section 14B of the Competition Act 2002 (as amended) provided a mechanism whereby undertakings under investigation by the CCPC may avoid proceedings under the Act by entering into an agreement with the CCPC to provide commitments addressing competition concerns and the undertaking’s future behaviour. The CCPC may apply, subject to the consent of the undertaking concerned, to the High Court to have such an agreement made an order of court. As a result, non-compliance with the commitments would be contempt of court.

Ticketmasterprovided binding commitments to the CCPC in accordance withSection 14B of the 2002 Act to address the preliminary competition concerns identified in the CCPC’s investigation in relation to the supply of outsourced primary ticketing services.

The CCPC applied to the High Court to make the commitment agreement between the CCPC and Ticketmaster a court order. The High Court granted this order on 15 December 2020, and it came into effect on 29 January 2021.

These binding commitments require Ticketmaster to remove exclusivity clauses with venues in the supply of outsourced primary ticketing services. Ticketmaster also committed to limit the time period of exclusivity clauses to 3 years in contracts with live event organisers, the overall contract duration would be capped at 5 years and finally that there would be no automatic contract renewals.

The CCPC has ongoing engagement with Ticketmaster in relation to how it is complying with the terms of these commitments and court order. Additionally, CCPC continues to monitor the impact of the required changes on the sector generally.

Since this agreement the legal situation has changed. Section 14B of the 2002 Act was repealed by the Competition (Amendment) Act 2022, subject to the transitional provision in section 3 of the 2022 Act. As a result of the Competition (Amendment) Act 2022, in future investigations, the CCPC will itself be able to enforce, through independent adjudication officers, commitment agreements concluded in accordance with section 15AE of the 2002 Act through the imposition of administrative financial sanctions for non-compliance. However, as the commitment agreement reached with Ticketmaster pre-dates the Competition (Amendment) Act 2022, this new provision does not apply to the Ticketmaster commitment agreement.