Sharon Keogan: Demands Emergency Aid After Tickets.ie Collapse
Sharon Keogan addressed the Seanad about the sudden liquidation of Tickets.ie that left organisers of major festivals unpaid and more than a million euros missing. She called for emergency supports, tighter regulation of the ticket industry, and diplomatic engagement with the company's German owners to resolve the crisis.
Sharon Keogan summarises the Tickets.ie liquidation, noting that thousands of attendants paid for tickets and organisers are now unable to access those funds. She highlights estimates that over a million euros collected for five major festivals has vanished, placing staff, suppliers and musicians at immediate financial risk.
Keogan names affected events including the Liberty Festival in Thurless, the Rory Gallagher Festival in Galway and the Rockathon in Meath, stressing these are established cultural institutions that deliver economic benefits to local businesses and communities. She warns the festivals' futures are in jeopardy and that the collapse would ripple through rural areas and the cultural sector.
Keogan sets out three concrete actions: immediate emergency supports for the festivals, urgent reform and regulation of the ticketing industry, and diplomatic outreach to the German owners (DAG) to secure a rapid resolution. She argues emergency funding is not a handout but necessary to preserve a diverse festival sector and local economies.
Keogan points to alarming details: Tickets.ie had not submitted a CRO filing since 2022 and lacked tax clearance or obligations to underwrite customer revenues. She calls these regulatory failures baffling and insists they must be fixed post-haste to prevent repeat crises.
What happened
Sharon Keogan summarises the Tickets.ie liquidation, noting that thousands of attendants paid for tickets and organisers are now unable to access those funds. She highlights estimates that over a million euros collected for five major festivals has vanished, placing staff, suppliers and musicians at immediate financial risk.
Festivals and communities at risk
Keogan names affected events including the Liberty Festival in Thurless, the Rory Gallagher Festival in Galway and the Rockathon in Meath, stressing these are established cultural institutions that deliver economic benefits to local businesses and communities. She warns the festivals' futures are in jeopardy and that the collapse would ripple through rural areas and the cultural sector.
Three requests to Government
Keogan sets out three concrete actions: immediate emergency supports for the festivals, urgent reform and regulation of the ticketing industry, and diplomatic outreach to the German owners (DAG) to secure a rapid resolution. She argues emergency funding is not a handout but necessary to preserve a diverse festival sector and local economies.
Regulation and accountability
Keogan points to alarming details: Tickets.ie had not submitted a CRO filing since 2022 and lacked tax clearance or obligations to underwrite customer revenues. She calls these regulatory failures baffling and insists they must be fixed post-haste to prevent repeat crises.
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Transcript
I rise today to echo the concerns raised by other members of both Houses on the recent Tickets.ie fiasco, where the company in question went into liquidation with no warning, leaving the festival organisers unable to receive the tickets revenue that has already been paid by thousands of attendants. It is estimated that over a million euros collected on behalf of over five major music festivals has now vanished, leaving the organisers on the hook, unable to pay the staff, suppliers and musicians. Several major festivals have been affected by this, such as the Liberty Festival in Thurless, the Rory Gallaher Festival in Galway, already highlighted by Senator McManus, and the Rockathon in Mead. These are not small, fringe or independent events. These festivals have become a cultural institution to attendants and artists, and a huge annual windfall for the communities that host them, boasting local businesses. With these festivals' futures in question, all of this is now in danger. So there are three major actions that I call on the Government to undertake. The first is to make emergency supports available to the festivals in question. This is not a matter of handouts. This is a matter of keeping alive a diverse and thriving range of festivals across the country in a moment of crisis, and preventing the potential ripple effect that their collapse will have on our rural communities and our cultural sector. I feel this is the only fare, because the Government bears some responsibility for this mess in its failure to regulate the ticket industry, which is my second proposed action. The fact that tickets.ie has been mishandling millions of revenue without even submitting a CRO since 2022, without a tax clearance, and no obligations to ensure that the money was underwritten, is utterly baffling and must be fixed post-haste. I also have heard from Councillor Jim Ryan in Thurlist that the DAG, the German owners of ticket.ie, have not been responding to organisers. So I finally call on our Government to immediately reach out to our German counterparts, whether it's the Minister for Industry and Commerce there, and indeed our German Ambassador, to seek a rapid solution.