Founder of Tickets.ie talks to Hot Press

Hot Press has spoken exclusively with John O’Neill, the former CEO of Tickets.ie – the Irish-based ticket-seller that went into liquidation recently, leaving a number of festivals hugely out of pocket.

O’Neill who was the founder of Tickets.ie told Hot Press that he was “saddened and shocked” to hear that the company ceased trading last month.

Three Irish festivals – the Rory Gallagher Festival in Ballyshannon, the hard rock covers festival Rockathon (photographed above) and the country festival Cowboys and Heroes, in County Leitrim – have already said that their futures are in doubt, citing an accumulated €600,000 in unpaid fees. And there may be other festivals and events affected by the collapse.

There is little doubt that the Covid epidemic – and the complete freeze on any live entertainment activity it precipitated – played a part in creating financial difficulties for the company. O’Neill served as the CEO of tickets.ie until the company was acquired by German media corporation DEAG in October 2022.

After the acquisition, his involvement in the company was scaled back, before he officially left in February 2025, maintaining a minority shareholding.

“I left the company in February 2025 and ceased to be a director at that time,” John told Hot Press. “While I retain a small shareholding in the company, I have had no involvement in its management or day-to-day operations since my departure.

“I was very saddened and shocked to hear that the company has ceased trading. The news came as a genuine surprise to me.”

Earlier this month O’Neill himself took a complaint against the firm to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after exiting following the acquisition. Clearly, there are aspects to the way in which his relationship with the company was handled, about which he was unhappy. However, this cannot be discussed, out of respect for the WRC process.

“Since the news broke, a number of people have contacted me with questions and concerns,” O’Neill added. "Unfortunately, because I have ongoing proceedings before the Workplace Relations Commission, I'm limited in what I can say at this stage, and I don't want to do anything that could prejudice those proceedings.”

However, O’Neill does recognise the extent to which the affected festivals – and the people that run them – are wounded and upset.

“What I will say,” he told Hot Press, "is that my thoughts are with the staff, clients and customers affected. I know this will be a very uncertain and worrying time for many people. A number of people have reached out to me directly, and I completely understand the concern and anxiety that people are feeling right now.

“I sincerely hope that whatever process now follows can be resolved as quickly as possible and in a way that minimises the impact on everyone affected.”

The collapse of tickets.ie has raised concerns over whether the company had a reasonable basis to continue trading, after their DEAG-linked agreement to cover any short-falls in customer funds came to end in October 2025.

Oshi Software Limited, trading as tickets.ie, ceased trading in June, with directors preparing to place the company into liquidation.

The company founded by John O’Neill in 2004, was acquired by the German live entertainment group DEAG in 2022, through its UK subsidiary My Ticket Services.

As part of the deal, KMJ, a company controlled by DEAG, signed an agreement to underwrite any shortfall in customers' funds. That agreement, a former employee who preferred to remain anonymous told Hot Press, ended in October 2025.

The existence of the deal may prove to be significant. An independent report revealed that tickets.ie became balance sheet insolvent in January 2025, meaning the value of its liabilities were greater than the value of its assets. However, while the agreement to underwrite any cash shortfall was in place, tickets.ie had been provided with protection against shortfalls in customer funds. The protection evaporated with the ending of the term of the deal.

Singular Artists, which is 55% owned by KMJ, terminated its agreement with tickets.ie in December 2025 and – at least in part – switched to Gigantic Tickets, a UK company that also operates under the DEAG structure.

A Director of tickets.ie, Stuart Galbraith has a 45.3% stake in KMJ, the company that has a 55% ownership of Singular Artists. "There are issues here that people in the Rory Gallagher Festival and Rockathon – and anyone else who is owed money will be very curious about," one affected festival supplier said. "It is always sad when a company goes out of business, but it is devastating when completely innocent parties lose so much money overnight."

Below is a DEAG company structure from 2024.

Screenshot