Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, Pearse Doherty TD, has said that the government must take immediate action to ban the rip-off practice of so-called dynamic ticket pricing.

Deputy Doherty said that while the practice has come into focus this week following the exorbitant prices charged to Oasis fans, the issue is not a new one and has previously been raised by Sinn Féin only to be met by inaction from government.

Teachta Doherty said:

“We had a shameful scenario at the weekend where Oasis fans queued online for hours upon hours only for standing tickets to their gigs at Croke only to see prices more than quadruple in cost to €415 in the time they were waiting in line – without any prior warning.

“While this has happened with Oasis this week, and that has focused public attention, this greedy practice is not a new phenomenon.

“Listening to the response of government TDs, you would be forgiven for thinking that they had been blindsided by a new practice.

“But the reality is that it has happened with other acts as well, and has been previously raised with Minister Dara Calleary by my colleague Lousie O’Reilly.

“The response from the government since has been inaction, and the latest fleecing of ticket-buyers on Saturday is the result of that inaction.

“It is not acceptable that you enter into a lottery for tickets blind to what you might have to fork out for them.

“The consumer should know what ticket prices will be in advance of queuing, those prices should remain as advertised, and should be sold on a first-come first-served basis. That is not too much to ask.

“In my mind, so-called dynamic ticket pricing is no more acceptable than ticket touting, and the government must immediately take action to ban ticket providers and music promoters from engaging in this practice.”