Organisers behind the Rory Gallagher Festival, Rockathon, Cowboys and Heroes, and the Liberty Music Festival have expressed shock and dismay at the unforeseen liquidation of Ireland’s second biggest ticket-selling platform, tickets.ie
Despite the upset, the organisers of Liberty Music Festival Thurlas have vowed that the event will go ahead as planned this year.
Speaking to Gript, Simon Power said that although Cowboys and Heroes (Leitrim) went off successfully last June bank holiday weekend, he now faces “serious debt” which could “wipe” him financially after the ticket platform went bust without notice.
Some of the organisers only became aware of the issue the following Tuesday when they went online to generate invoices for the ticket sales, Gript has learned.
A message posted on the homepage of tickets.ie reads as followers:
“Oshi Software Limited, trading as Tickets.ie, has ceased trading and the directors are taking steps to place the company into liquidation and appoint a liquidator over the company. The winding up is being conducted in accordance with the Companies Acts.
All enquiries should be directed to the appointed liquidator, whose details will be published here once appointed.
Customers with tickets for upcoming events should wait to hear from the relevant event promoter directly regarding their event.
We would like to thank our customers, event promoters, and partners for their support and loyalty over many years. It has been a privilege to serve the Irish events community, and we are grateful for the trust you placed in Tickets.ie.
“It’s a wild situation,” Mr Power said, adding, “We’re over the million euro mark now between the four festivals.”
Mr Power described how three of the festivals were established around 2014 and how they were “built up” and managed to survive the COVID lockdowns, saying that this new blow could be “existential”.
Held at Drumcora City in Leitrim – a Western themed resort space complete with saloon doors and glamping facilities – the festival was born after the cancellation of a series of Garth Brooks events which left approximately 400,000 disappointed.
He said that profits from one day of the festival are donated to a nominated charity and that revellers are asked to make a donation of their choosing in support of the cause.
“We’re a family fun festival that has lots going on,” he said, adding, “after working so hard for the whole year”, it now came down to a difference of being paid by tickets.ie or being “in debt”.
“I’ve promised and committed no matter what, everyone’s gonna get paid,” he said, adding that he may have to sell off personal assets to ensure this.
“It’s a bit of a killer,” he said, adding that Rockathon and the Rory Gallagher festival are owed “larger sums”.
He noted that if he had been given even one month’s notice of the liquidation, he could have found an alternative sales platform or gone back to handling ticket sales directly “in-house”.
The chief organiser of Rockathon – Ireland’s largest outdoor rock and tribute music festival, which is held annually – Kelly McGuane is “absolutely devastated” at the news, her husband Aidan said.
The event, held at the Fairyhouse racecourse in Meath, features over 40 live tribute acts performing the greatest hits of rock bands such as AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Oasis across multiple outdoor and indoor stages, as well as dedicating a four-hour stage free of charge to teenagers from music school, Rockjam.
Aidan told Gript that Kelly worked tirelessly to promote the festival and that she couldn’t understand how something like this could happen, as she is so “good-natured”. “She’s an absolute star,” he said, explaining how she encourages kids with special needs to get involved and join in on the festivities.
He said that the situation was “breaking her heart” and that he wanted to step in to “support” and “protect” her after she was “blind sided” and heard the news through the media rather than the company itself, adding that tickets were being sold on the platform “up until the Sunday night of our festival”.
“Shocking is to say the least,” he said, adding that Kelly had run the festival “independently” after “building it up” over the years and had received only some “small support” from Meath County Council.
“People think festival organisers are millionaires: they’ve no idea!” he said, adding that Kelly had invested “sweat equity” to “try and build something for the kids.”
Organiser of the Liberty Music Festival, Cllr. Jim Ryan said that the festival “will definitely go ahead” as alternative funding methods are being put in place.
Cllr. Ryan said that because his festival is still a few weeks away, he had the opportunity to make alternative funding arrangements “to get it over the line”.
“This is major”, he said, adding, “what we’re worried about is that this will just be forgotten about,” and that it has “a major impact” on how tickets are sold in Ireland.
“The whole ticket industry needs to be regulated”, he said, adding that a solicitor, auctioneer, or travel agent “handling public money” needs to have a bond in place in case they run aground.
“In the ticket industry, they don’t need to have a bond, he said, adding, “I don’t think they even have to have insurance”.
He added that people’s money had to be protected, calling on Government ministers to intervene.
Responding to the developments, Independent TD for Cork North-Central, Ken O’Flynn, says he has written to Minister Patrick O’Donovan seeking “urgent intervention”
“Community festivals and volunteer-run events across Ireland are facing potentially devastating financial losses through no fault of their own.”
“I have asked the Minister to consider immediate support measures for affected festivals and community events, and to examine how the Government can help ensure that longstanding cultural and tourism events are not lost as a result of this situation,” he said.
Deputy O’Flynn added that he has also called for “a review of the regulation of the ticketing sector. The collapse of Tickets, i.e., has exposed serious questions about the protection of organisers’ funds and the safeguards that should be in place when large sums of money are being held on behalf of events.”
“These festivals are more than entertainment. They support local jobs, tourism, charities, hospitality businesses and community life throughout Ireland,” he said.
“The organisers deserve answers. The affected communities deserve support. Government must now demonstrate that it understands the urgency of the situation. I will continue to engage with Ministers and stakeholders to seek a resolution for those affected,” he concluded.