Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said he hopes the organisers of the ticket sales for the Oasis concerts at Croke Park next year will “reflect” on what happened yesterday as thousands of fans were priced out.
He said there is a role for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to investigate it.
Ticketmaster and concert promoters MCD have come in for stinging criticism – after thousands of Oasis fans failed to secure tickets for the gigs next August.
Many reported being in lengthy digital queues, technical issues, and significantly higher than expected ticket prices.
There have been calls for an investigation into Ticketmaster’s in-demand pricing structure.
We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Tickets were advertised as being priced from €86.50 (subject to service charge) and limited to four per transaction.
However, users on X, formerly Twitter, reported the price for standing tickets more than doubling from around €176 on pre-sale to over €400 on Ticketmaster after they waited for hours to secure their place.
The Tánaiste said it was “quite shocking” to see how there was “a kind of runaway inflation” with the cost of tickets going up to around €415 for pitch standing.
The Tánaiste said there is still “time for redemption” for the organisers and promoters and that he hoped they could reflect on what has transpired.
“There are a lot, a lot of disappointed people out there from the perspective of what they would see as price gouging,” he added.
Read more: Oasis sells out Croke Park amid frustration over ticket prices
In a statement, the CCPC said that under consumer law in Ireland, people should be clearly informed of the full price of a product, including fees, before they buy.
Its role is to ensure that consumers are provided with clear and accurate information, including booking and related charges before they pay, it added.
“In terms of pricing, there are no price controls in Ireland, apart from in certain, limited areas. Individual businesses can decide on the prices of the products they sell and they are allowed to adjust their prices in response to demand or other factors, once an accurate price is displayed to the consumer in advance of the sale so they can decide if they want to proceed,” the CCPC statement said.
It also warned people to be vigilant of scams when buying tickets for sought-after concerts.
“Tickets for these events are limited and sell out quickly, leaving fans disappointed, creating a perfect storm for scammers to take advantage.
“When buying tickets, either in person or online, you should be absolutely certain that the seller is genuine.”
Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty has called on the CCPC to look into how Ticketmaster advertise and price tickets as she said the EU’s Digital Services Act “has sections included specifically to ensure large platforms that control aspects of the digital economy don’t just make up their own rules that are unfair for consumers”.
In a statement, Ms Doherty said “Ticketmaster’s “in-demand” pricing structure certainly needs investigating in this context”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Ms Doherty said people are angry “at the rip-off we witnessed yesterday morning with Ticketmaster and I think we need to get to the bottom of where that rip-off stems from and why it’s allowed to happen.”
Ms Doherty also said she has written to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and also to the Competitions Commissioner in the European Commission about the issue.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Separately, Fianna Fáil senator Timmy Dooley said on X, formerly Twitter, that he had written to the CCPC requesting an investigation into the Oasis tickets’ sale.
I have written to the competition & Consumer protection commission, requesting an investigation of the ticket sales stunt used for the Oasis concerts – it now seems that bands and their agents have taken over where the touts left off – @GAA should set rules for use of Croke Park
— Timmy Dooley (@timmydooley) August 31, 2024
An explanation by Ticketmaster yesterday about the “on-demand standing ticket” price said: “The event organiser has priced these tickets according to their market value.
“Tickets do not include VIP packages. Availability and pricing are subject to change.”
When asked about this issue by the PA news agency, Ticketmaster said it does not set prices, and shared a link to its website where it said costs can be “fixed or market-based”.