Republic of Ireland’s Dynamic Pricing Plan

Several Fianna Fáil senators and MPs are trying to introduce legislation in the Republic of Ireland that would outlaw a process known as “dynamic pricing” following price increases for Oasis shows in Dublin.

Was common criticism of dynamic pricing over the last week.

Dynamic pricing meant that on Ticketmaster, where tickets for the tour were originally sold, prices rose in line with demand.

The price of some standing tickets at Dublin’s Croke Park Stadium has risen from €176 (£148) in advance to more than €400 (£337).

Ticketmaster defended the way it sells tickets.

Last week Oasis announced two shows at Croke Park on August 16 and 17, as well as 15 other nights at venues across the UK.

Since then, two more shows have been announced at Wembley Stadium in London.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events Ticketing Act 2021 came into force, which prohibits the resale of tickets above their face value.

On Thursday, Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley, MP Niamh Smyth and MP Jim O’Callaghan will table an amendment to the Bill.

Mr O’Callaghan said: “The 2021 Act protects fans from losing the opportunity to purchase tickets and seeing the same tickets for sale on a website at a much higher price than they can afford or would be willing to pay.

“We now need to extend it so that we can protect fans from the experience of having ‘desirable’ tickets priced far above the originally advertised asking price.”

The UK Government has already announced it will conduct a review to examine the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including queuing technology that encourages it.

Schellion Horn, competition economist at audit firm Grant Thornton, said: BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Dynamic pricing involved setting prices based on supply and demand.

This means that as demand for tickets increases, their price also increases.

Senator Timmy Dooley said: “This is about protecting consumers from technology fraud.

“People attending any event, not just concerts, should have the confidence that when they wait in line online to buy a ticket, they will pay the price that was originally advertised.

“This was not the case for Oasis fans over the weekend. After waiting in an online queue, fans were greeted by ‘coveted’ tickets, which were on sale for over €400 each.”

Mr Dooley said the practice of dynamic pricing “needs to be nipped in the bud before it becomes widespread”.

He added that fans “deserve honesty and transparency.”

Dynamic pricing is when the fee changes based on market demand, rather than when the cost is fixed.

Ticketmaster has stated that it does not set prices and that the “event organiser” sets ticket prices based on their market value.

– said Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland) Micheál Martin there is a role for the Commission for Competition and Consumer Protection (CCPC) to investigate ticket prices for an Oasis concert.

The CCPC statement said that under Irish consumer law, customers should be clearly informed of the full price of a product, including any charges, before they make a purchase.

Oasis this week he criticized Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing.

In a statement issued to PA Media, the band said: “It must be made clear that Oasis leave decisions regarding tickets and pricing entirely to their promoters and management.”

They added that “at no point were they aware that dynamic pricing would be used for ticket sales for the original dates.”

Oasis said tickets for the new Wembley dates would be handed out via a “staggered invitation-only voting process”.

The Bill will now go to the Seanad for debate before being debated in the Dáil. It will then be put to a vote.

Only once both houses pass the bill will President Michael D. Higgins be able to sign it into law.

The bill was submitted as a parliamentary bill (PMB).

Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party currently form a governing coalition.

A Green Party spokesman in the Republic of Ireland said that because the bill was a PMB bill it would need to be discussed by Cabinet before a decision was made on whether to support it.

Green Party councillor for Lisnasharragh Brian Smyth tried to get tickets for one of Oasis’ concerts in Croke Park.

The only tickets available when he went through the online queue were platinum tickets or packages. The platinum ticket on offer started at €353.50 (£297.96), with fan packages starting at €420.25 (£354.19) and going up to over €500.

Considering the high ticket prices, he decided to purchase them.

“Ticketmaster has a lot of questions to answer, that this practice is part and parcel of America and now it’s slowly creeping in here. I think people are now looking at it with disgust and saying, ‘This is not acceptable’,” Mr Smyth told BBC News NI.

Mr Smyth said he “couldn’t justify” paying more than £400 for the ticket.