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Harvey Goldsmith urges Irish politicians to pass tout ban, even if some Viagogo employees lose their jobs

By | Published on Thursday 9 August 2018

Live Music

Veteran concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith has urged Irish politicians to “be brave” and back proposed new laws that will outlaw ticket touting at many venues.

The Irish government recently said it would back proposals by two backbench MPs seeking to restrict the resale of tickets for profit in the country. The department of the Minister For Business, Enterprise And Innovation said it was backing new rules that would “ban the above-face value resale of tickets for sporting and entertainment events in designated venues with a capacity of 1000 or over. It would also prohibit the use of bot software to purchase tickets in excess of the number permitted by event organisers”.

However, last week, one Irish Senator said she’d opposed the plans because always controversial ticket resale website Viagogo employs about 150 people in Limerick, the city she represents. Senator Maria Byrne told reporters that she “was alarmed to learn that ticket resale sites like the Ticketmaster company Seatwave closed down in Belgium when it introduced similar legislation” to that being backed by the Irish government.

Goldsmith – a vocal opponent to online ticket touting even when much of the live industry was going through its ‘if you can’t beat them join them’ phase – says Irish politicians should back the new laws even if it does mean some Viagogo employees in the country losing their jobs.

Speaking to TheTicketingBusiness.com, Goldsmith said earlier this week: “How I applauded forward thinking Ireland when it looked like they were going to pass a bill outlawing the resale of tickets. Now some busybody under the thumb of lobbyists is trying to stop the bill on the basis that some people will be out of a job”.

Adding some drama, he concluded: “That’s the same as saying we can’t attack terrorists or crooks because some people will be out of work! Be brave Ireland and pass the bill”.



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