Rugby fans are being asked to pay as much as €2,700 for tickets to the most sought after match in the forthcoming Six Nations competition, according to Noel Rock, the Fine Gael TD pushing for legislation to curb touting practices.
The tickets on sale for the highly anticipated Ireland versus England match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin next Saturday - generally the most sought after tie - are advertised on the sales website Viagogo.
A cursory glance shows hundreds of tickets, many of which have asking prices in excess of €1,000 as compared to their original face value of €115.
On Friday morning, the highest price apparent on the site was €2,032.
The €2,700 figure quoted by Mr Rock is the same as typical household expenditure over the course of December, according to data released last month by Retail Ireland, the Ibec unit representing the sector.
Mr Rock has said the prices are demonstrative of the need for his legislation to be adopted by the Dáil.
Its passage, he said, had been “glacial” to date but in more recent times Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation Heather Humphreys, had backed it, lending new impetus to its passage through the legislative process.
Mr Rock told The Irish Times his Bill had been slowed by lobbying on the issue but is now hopeful it will be cleared by St Patrick's Day.
“It’s in the public domain that lobbyists have been working on this over the last year and a half now,” he said. “It is quite clear that they are trying their best.”
