The Irish government are moving forward with plans to curb ticket touting. Today, the cabinet signed off on a proposed legislation to curb the above-face value resale of tickets for sporting and entertainment events in designated venues with a capacity of 1,000 or over.

This has been long awaited by music fans. In 2017, there was controversy over U2 Croke Park tickets selling out in under 10 minutes and then being sold on secondary ticket sites at inflated rates of up to €13,000.

An Anti-Ticket Touting Bill had already been drafted by Fine Gael TD Noel Rock and Fianna Fail TD Stephen Donnelly. However, now the Cabinet have agreed to accept an amended version of the ticket touting bill.

Rock expressed delight with the move via Twitter.

A great moment for matchgoers, music fans and consumer protection: Cabinet have agreed to accept an amended version of the ticket touting Bill which I set forward alongside @DonnellyStephen. This is a big step to driving out ticket touting. A big day on a long journey!

— Noel Rock (@NoelRock) July 24, 2018

Noel Rock spoke to Hot Press's Peter McGoran in 2017 about the need for an anti-touting bill where the politician said: “This was brought up way back in 1998 and again in 2005 but the legislation was more geared towards ‘traditional touting’ – people selling tickets outside venues or sporting grounds, which wasn’t seen as a pressing problem. However, it’s clear now that this has evolved to a highly structured industry; it has an estimated market value of £1.5 billion in the UK alone. The lack of regulation by the industry itself means that it’s necessary that legislation should step in at this stage"

That interview can be read here.

Ireland will not be the first country to bring in this law. In Belgium, legislation introduced in 2016 allows reselling – but with no increase in price during the resale. Rock told Hot Press in 2017: “I think this is the way forward here in Ireland. The simplicity and the neatness of the Belgian model is one that’s worthy of replication."

Check back with Hot Press for further developments with the bill.