1 week Ago By Roisin Phelan
THE scrabble to see Oasis at Croke Park next summer has sparked a fresh row over dynamic pricing. Commonly used by airlines and hotels, the model adjusts costs based on demand. That means original ticket prices rocketed as fans clamoured to secure their place at the August 2025 gigs, where Liam and Noel Gallagher , will reunite.
More than 500,000 rushed to nab gold-dust briefs, which had been promoted with a starting price of €86.50. But many were left feeling frustrated and misled when, after hours of waiting, they were faced with costs of over €400.
Fianna Fáil is now proposing a Bill to ban dynamic pricing by primary ticket sellers, aiming to extend 2021 legislation that prohibited ticket reselling above face value. Here, Senator Tommy Dooley explains how the move would seek to protect consumers from unpredictable pricing spikes. LAST weekend, hundreds of thousands of people logged on to Ticketmaster in an attempt to get tickets for Oasis’ two Croke Park gigs next summer.
Within 15 minutes of the sale going live at 8am, there were 500,000 people in the queue for tickets, which were advertised beforehand as starting “from €86.50”. Fans who managed to get through the queue, most of whom waited for hours, were then greeted with tickets available for upwards of €400 — a far cry from €86.
50. The rush to get Oasis tickets is the latest example in the emerging practice of dynamic pricing in Ireland. Dynamic pricing, also known as surge pricing, is used by some businesses to push up prices at times of high demand.
It is most commonly used by hotels and airlines. However, a key difference between these businesses and cultural events is that there is competition and alternative options available. For example, if I decide to fly from Shannon Airport in the morning to somewhere like France, I can get a cheaper ticket if I buy a flight either late at night or early in the morning.
If I want to fly in the middle of the day, I will have to pay a higher price. But there are options available to me. In the case of hotels, there are those further out from city centres, hostels, Airbnbs and B&Bs all competing for guests, so there are also alternative options there.
However, if I want to attend a concert or sporting event, there are no alternatives. This makes it simply unfair to use dynamic pricing for these events. If an event wishes to charge €400, or any amount, for a ticket, they are entitled to do so — and advertise and promote the event to people based on that price.
It is entirely fair for consumers to expect and prepare to pay a price that is advertised in advance However, as the backlash from last weekend shows, the problem with dynamic pricing is that it is simply not clear to consumers when it applies, or how the online queue and the algorithm that determines the price which has to be paid actually works. This leads to a situation where a fan who is prepared to pay €86.50 is left with the option of paying five times that price — or not attending.
It is true that cultural and sporting events, concerts and gigs, are “luxury items”. However, this is a question of transparency and fairness. It is entirely fair for consumers to expect and prepare to pay a price that is advertised in advance.
People manage their money with these events in mind, making sure they have enough disposable income to afford the price advertised well in advance. With dynamic pricing, they are lured into an expectation that a ticket is on sale at a certain price, but are then effectively reeled into an online marketplace where they are kept waiting for hours, as primary ticket sellers, looking at demand, implement an algorithm that drives the price up. OASIS brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher have revealed a 17 gig comeback tour next summer - here are the details.
The Wonderwall hitmakers will delight crowds as follows: JULY 2025 4th - Cardiff, Principality Stadium 5th - Cardiff, Principality Stadium 11th - Manchester, Heaton Park 12th - Manchester, Heaton Park 16th - Manchester, Heaton Park 19th - Manchester, Heaton Park 20th - Manchester, Heaton Park 25th - London, Wembley Stadium 26th - London, Wembley Stadium 30th - London, Wembley Stadium AUGUST 2025 2nd - London, Wembley Stadium 3rd - London, Wembley Stadium 8th - Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium 9th - Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium 12th - Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium 16th - Dublin, Croke Park 17th - Dublin, Croke Park In the case of last weekend, it is not actually clear whether anybody managed to purchase tickets at the advertised price starting at €86.50. This week, along with my Fianna Fail colleagues Jim O’Callaghan TD and Niamh Smyth TD, we announced we are bringing forward a Bill that would prohibit the use of dynamic pricing by primary ticket sellers.
This Bill would extend the legislation that was introduced in 2021 to ban the reselling of tickets above face value. With the 2021 legislation, we protected fans from the experience of missing out on tickets and then seeing those same tickets for sale on a secondary site for far more than they can afford. As last weekend has shown, we need to further protect fans.
With this Bill, we can extend the 2021 Act to protect people from the experience of seeing “in-demand” tickets jumping significantly above the asking price that was initially advertised. We are introducing this Bill now because it is vital that we nip this practice in the bud. What we want to avoid is a situation where, further into the future, dynamic pricing becomes the norm for all cultural and sporting events that experience high demand — as it is in other countries like the United States.
We cannot have, for example, a situation where dynamic pricing becomes the standard model for music festivals, All-Ireland finals or football or rugby internationals. What we want is for businesses to behave in a fair and transparent way. We have strong consumer protection legislation in Ireland — however, we must keep pace with emerging technological trends.
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