O’Donoghue criticises Ticketmaster for dynamic pricing

Labour TD and arts spokesperson Robert O’Donoghue has criticised Ticketmaster for failing to tackle the practice of dynamic pricing.

With Oasis performing in Croke Park later this month, the debacle surrounding ticket sales has left a sour taste in the mouths of fans.

On the morning when tickets went on sale, fans complained of being hit with “dyanmic pricing,” which artificalty inflates ticket prices relative to the number of fans who are looking to purchase tickets to an event.

Since Ticketmaster introduced the practice in 2022, fans and spectators have seen sudden price increases, sometimes of up to 500%, of already expensive ticket prices.

O’Donoghue said “while there are excuses made that this practice falls to event organisers, when Ticketmaster has a near monopoly on ticket selling, they are ultimately the ones in charge of allowing such price hikes to happen.”

“This is leading us down a path where only the very well-off can afford to go to a gig without putting themselves under severe financial strain.”

O’Donoghue, who serves as Labour’s arts spokesperson, said that he was assured by the government that they were looking to take Ticketmaster to task over it, with the Oasis incident, specifically, referred to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

“The evidence is already clear in the bank balance of anyone who bought an Oasis ticket,” the Dublin Fingal West TD remarked.

“Last year, the government introduced the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) (Amendment) Bill 2024 to ensure these rip-off ticket prices do not happen again, but we haven’t seen anything of it since. I am calling on the government to progress this legislation to tackle rip-off ticket prices. The time for action is now.”