A new law against ticket touting goes into force on July 31, with the practice of reselling tickets above their face value now banned.

The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021 bans the resale of tickets to live events, matches and concerts in designated venues and for designated events, at a price above face value, with an exemption for amateur sports clubs and registered charities for fundraising purposes.

Venue operators and event organisers now need to apply to be included as a designated entity under regulations included in the Act. These regulations set out the requirements for a venue operator or event organiser who may wish to apply for designation of a venue(s) or an event where certain conditions are met. These include:

• Venue Designation: That the venue has the capacity to hold 1,000 persons or more and that the venue operator is of reasonable opinion that the venue will hold events that will give rise to over-price secondary selling.
• Event Designation: that the event operator is of the reasonable opinion that the event is of such a nature that it will give rise to over-price secondary selling.

Robert Troy (pictured) said: “We know demand for live events will increase as society begins to reopen, and while we continue to live with Covid-19, numbers to these events will be limited to protect public health. This legislation is necessary to protect fans from being ripped off by ticket touts who would exploit this.

“Of course, the benefits of this legislation will long outlive the public health measures, and this legislation will ensure a fairer market so tickets can go to real fans."

In Association with

Ticket touts will face fines of up to €100,000 or up to two years in prison if they sell music or sports tickets for live events above face value — if they are caught. The Act assigns enforcement powers to the Garda Siochana, who will have powers or entry and search.

The minister added that the purpose of the Act is to promote fairer access to tickets for cultural, entertainment, recreational and sporting events by banning touting, while exempting charitable organisations and amateur sports clubs in particular circumstances.

Full details of the Act and its regulations, plus the application form for designation, are available here.