Irish Examiner view: Aviva ticket debacle isnot sporting

Anti-touting legislation move is too little, too late for football fans hoping to see Ronaldo

Tickets for the upcoming World Cup qualifier clash between the Republic of Ireland and Portugal at the Aviva Stadium are circulating online at inflated prices. File Picture

It isn’t just the road to hell that is paved with good intentions; the same goes for the road to failure.

There were plenty of good intentions behind anti-touting legislation introduced four years ago by the former TD Noel Rock, and the current Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly. The same applied to a similar bill proposed by Sinn Féin TD for Limerick, Maurice Quinlivan. Both bills lapsed in 2018.

Good intentions were also evident last May when Tánaiste Leo Varadkar expressed high hopes for the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021 when, as minister for enterprise, trade and employment, he brought it before the Dail for its second reading. He forecast that: “This bill will act as a deterrent to individuals and entities that buy up tickets at the expense of sports and music fans, sporting bodies, artists and promoters.”

The bill was signed into law in July but it has now fallen at the first hurdle.

Tickets for the upcoming World Cup qualifier clash between the Republic of Ireland and Portugal at the Aviva Stadium are circulating online at inflated prices.

The act sets out to prohibit the sale or advertising for sale of tickets for a price exceeding the original sale price for designated events or events taking place in designated venues that have a capacity of 1,000 people or more.

However, it is up to the organisers to apply for an event or venue to be designated by Varadkar’s department and since no such application was received for the match at the Aviva Stadium on November 11, resellers are making huge profits.

The legislation is “obviously not doing its job”, according to Sinn Féin’s enterprise spokesperson Louise O’Reilly.
However, her party supported it in the Dáil, with Quinlivan declaring: “The Sinn Féin party and I will be supporting this legislation and are happy to see it before the Dáil.”

The structure of the legislation is unusual in that it requires the intervention of sporting organisations and event organisers before it can take effect. The appropriate minister, in this case, Leo Varadkar, also has the power to designate an event or a venue. Why neither the FAI nor the minister did so is puzzling. 

Even dealing with the act as it stands, it should have been clear to anyone with even the mildest interest in international soccer that the Aviva match would have been a sellout. 

The presence of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo alone would have guaranteed that.

Yesterday afternoon, Varadkar said it would take a few days to sort out the game as his officials were working on it, but by teatime, it was confirmed that as of midnight, the game is now a designated event.

While government can legitimately cast blame on the FAI for dropping the ball, it is also equally legitimate to ask why this was not spotted by the department.

While we have ultimately reached the right outcome, with many tickets already sold at inflated prices, it is a case of too little too late.

A totally avoidable mess.