Greens admit to touting inaction

Back in March, Green spokesman Cllr. Mark Deary, who owns Dundalk’s Spirit Store venue, stated: “Trends in the ticket industry are very disturbing, especially as Ticketmaster in the US have now adopted a touting mentality with tickets being auctioned as opposed to sold. The Green Party has been in contact with the Office of Consumer Affairs to highlight this practice and is seeking urgent action to ensure that consumer legislation in Ireland will seek to protect Irish consumers against the introduction of similar sales methods.
”The Green Party do not want rock music to become the preserve of the rich at the expense of the live music lover – music needs to be accessible to all and we aim to protect the rights of music lovers across the country from the greed of touts.”
Asked this week whether they’ve made any tangible progess on the matter, Cllr. Deary conceded: “It’s not something we’ve touched on yet. I’ve had some meeting with the Minister for Communications, Eamon Ryan, to discuss a broad range of music issues, but not touting, which I think may come under his remit. Put it this way, your call has prompted me to take action.”