Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Tory MP Priti Patel suggested using the possibility of food shortages in Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit to encourage the EU to drop the backstop. Queue facepalms from a few million people.
Not only were Patel’s comments naive and astoundingly tone deaf considering Britain’s involvement with, you know, starving over a million of us to death in the 1840s, they were actually plain wrong.
It turns out we’re actually the second most food secure nation in the world after Singapore. You can have a look here.
This is awkward. https: / /foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index
https: / /foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index / /foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
4 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Outside Father John Misty at Vicar Street last year with the band due on stage any minute and me still ticketless, I decided to offer a tout face value for a ticket. He told me that he’d rather rip it up in his pocket than give it to me at face value, except his language was more colourful that.
Anyway, as luck would have it, a fan going past saw this exchange and gave me a spare ticket he had for free. I couldn’t resist goading the tout with it.
Niall
Touts are linked to criminal gangs and criminality, one day they are selling tickets the next it is counter fit cigerates or worse drugs. My favorite story is outside Thomond park before when the stadium has a capacity of 13,000 and tickets nearly impossible to come by two touts got the crap kicked out of them and there tickets taken while the cops looked on as if nothing happened.
The big question is how do they get the tickets, corrupt people in sporting and the music hierarchy, .i really cannot come from any other source.
Darach
Not always true. The issue in Rio of the Irish Tickets comes from a company not credit cards, the example i used in Thomand Park, tickets did not go on line. The Issue of ALL Ireland final tickets go through club or gaa committees. Touts have contacts within organisations where they get tickets, like the Issue in Rio through a company or organisation, Yes some tickets are sourced by credit card, however you would be very niavie to think this is the case all tickets. The Touts are always the same weather it be Thomand Park, The Aviva or Croke Park regardless of sport or concert type.
Should be an official ticket exchange booth for genuine fans. For free or a small fee you lodge a ticket and collect payment after. To ensure touts don’t buy you could situate it in a place where you gave to go in straight away or the ticket is voided. This would cut out some scans and ensure if you have a spare it goes to a legit fan.
No shortage of tickets for Thomond these days as the rugby bandwagon grinds to a halt. Also it’s counterfeit not “counter fit”. I do like the goading the tout part of the story though.
Has this publications sister publications Adverts.ie and Donedeal banned the practice or indeed wider Irish media too? And what exactly constitutes touting? Is it selling at a huge mark up, or any mark up at all?
Their sister sites that you mentioned also allow the unregulated sale of dogs which which supports puppy farming in this country. Remember this the next time they have an article showing their fake outrage about puppies being found at Dublin Port etc.
I often travel to London with my wife as my son lives and works in London. I have checked online for tickets to see a show or catch a football match and the prices are extorinately high. These resellers are legalised ticket touts.
Once tried to buy three tickets off a tout outside Croker for Ireland v Serbia friendly in May 2008. A Garda nearby saw us, walked over and told the tout to clear off. He then lectured us about buying from touts, before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a strip of tickets and handing us over three for the Cusack Stand – for free! Tout was bullying and we were happy out, with our hard earned € still in our pockets.
Know a man that bought a ticket from a tout at an enormous price for the football all Ireland, only to be told at the style that he was two weeks too late. It was for the hurling all Ireland!!
Lousy, but he should have read the damn thing. I know a chap who once went to an Oxegen festival site & paid €300 for a weekend ticket only to discover it had already been scanned in at the gate. Lousy b@stard used it and then passed it through the fence to his f***er friend.
At around 5pm of Slane 2002 (duff ticket for a tenner that got through) and about 2 days before Oxegen 2005, on both occasions I made an offer they sneered, I pointed out that their time to turn a profit was nearly up and turned to walk away and they agreed. Remember, there are times when the squeeze is on them, and know when to walk away.
I once paid €100 for a €35 ticket. I was desperate at the time. But in retrospect, it was a mistake, one I did not repeat. There are more important things in life than not having a ticket to an event and just bite the bullet rather than let the tout win.
I did, to be honest. But looking back on it now, it wouldn’t bother me if I’d missed it. It’s one those in the moment type things, but not a life defining event or anything. There’s always going to be greater demand than supply for some things, don’t like seeing scheisters score big time from it. Probably just getting older. And wiser. Hopefully.
If you’re looking up a ticketed event on Ticketmaster and they are sold out, Ticketmaster will then prompt you with a link to their own legitimised touting website. Discovered this while looking for Massive Attack tickets earlier this yr, they were on sale for between 125%-200% of face value
Young people regularly buy tickets at the usual outlets for rock concerts at ‘face value’ – and they are being bled dry by the promoters, who go smiling all the way to the bank.
I can’t imagine going to a stadium without a ticket, would be too disappointing to come up short having been part of the pre-match buzz. That said, I don’t think I’d ever pay more than face value for anything, I’d rather hole up in the pub and drink the base ticket price if we win.
That said, I did once sell tickets on ebay for a tidy profit (Munster v Toulouse, Heineken cup final 2008) because I balked at the cost of travel and the prospect of sharing a hotel room floor.
I told people I’d sold them to a friend of a friend, because there was a big hunt for tickets, so technically I’m a dirty rotten tout :)
I wanted to when Metallica played The Point whilst touring the Black Album but my father wouldn’t let me. Needless to say, I was very upset, probably not as upset as I would’ve been had I bought one and it turned out to be fake.
Good on you dad. No kid should be exposed to the devil’s music (which, incidentally, is exactly what parents of white kids said about Elvis’ music back in the mid 1950′s)
That’s why I never would buy a ticket from random touts. Too likely that it’s not even a valid ticket. It’s hard to miss out when they go on sale, but at least you get to spend your own money some other time, or on a DVD of the live gig.
Tip, wait til 2 or 3 songs into a gig then go up to a scalper they’ll be looking to shift the tickets for any price to make back money. This was common in Manchester for the recent stone roses gigs. Tickets valued at £55 being sold for at most £20
I went along to a Bruce Springsteen gig with no ticket, the gig had just started so the guy actually gave me a discount & I paid a good bit less than my friends whom had tickets!
Yes, but you’d made the effort to go anyway, good on you. Without knowing whether you’d get a ticket. It’s the chance you take. I hate touts profiting from people genuinely into the band and the band don’t even gain from fans paying way over the odds.
Usually you can get one from a decent fan outside. Those touts are parasites. Always the same couple of fellas outside the gigs – the lad on the crutches and his cronies.
I remember a girl buying a ticket for Ryan Adams from a tout in front of my face and just like that she realised it was from the night before – “nothing I can do love”. Infuriating. Thankfully the mate I was with had a spare ticket and gave it to her.
If you are a regular gig goer you get used to checking ticket sites, venues etc for release dates for tickets and then you buy them. The people who watch live music the most are the least likely to get stung paying touts.
If I havent a ticket for a game, id usually wait until after K.O to buy one for below face value from a tout stuck with any. Often worth it for missing 5-10mins.
Well in my case I had one of the best nights ever, unfortunately I got separated from my friends within minutes so was on my own & managed to blag my way into the stalls ( in the rds ) & had one of the best seats in the place!! :-)
Majority of councils miss farm inspection targets vital for water protection
Conor O'Carroll
3 hrs ago
734
26
United States
US suspends student visa processing as Trump administration ramps up social media vetting
4 hrs ago
6.1k
Further Education
The government has announced the free college courses on offer for the next academic year
Updated
10 hrs ago
51.0k
27
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 197 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 137 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 177 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 139 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 101 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 102 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 47 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 43 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 161 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 73 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 96 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 102 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 45 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 60 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 29 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 112 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 115 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 63 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 107 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 90 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say