Tipperary music festival is full steam ahead despite nearly €250,000 ticketing loss
Organisers and local sponsors have stepped up to keep things on track
Thurles’ Liberty Music Festival is full steam ahead and gearing up for another great year, says organiser Cllr Jim Ryan, despite the fact that the company behind the festival’s ticketing partner, ‘Tickets.ie’, has ceased trading and, as Cllr Ryan described, “fallen off the face of the earth”.
The issue was raised in the Dáil this week by North Tipperary TD Alan Kelly, who brought up the impact of the Tickets.ie liquidation during a debate led by Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Deputy Peter Burke.
Deputy Kelly said:
“The Minister is aware of the issue with Tickets.ie. In fairness, he took a call from me last week about this. As regards the large-scale festival we have had in Thurles for the past number of years, Liberty Music Festival, now that Tickets.ie has basically gone wallop, Cllr Jim Ryan in Thurles and others are having to find about €300,000 to support the festival to go ahead. Campsites and tickets are sold out yet like a number of other festivals in this country, Liberty Music Festival is being massively affected by this. This is not the fault of the Government, it is a collective Oireachtas and regulatory fault.
“The idea that tickets.ie or any similar type of organisation can take millions of euro, put the money into its own account, hold it and then go wallop, just from a regulatory point of view, is nuts. It is insane. It is crazy. It should not be allowed to happen. Let us imagine where we would all be left if ticketmaster.ie went wallop in the morning.
“I ask the Minister to examine this from a regulatory point of view. I commend all those who are supporting the festival to keep it going this year. I do not know where they will get the funding for it or how they will be supported, but if there is any way in which that can happen, it would be great.
“On the principle of Tickets.ie and the regulatory process, we, as a Legislature, need to deal with it.”
Deputies Pearse Doherty and Martin Kenny also raised the issue of tickets.ie during the debate, with Deputy Doherty saying that the liquidation has caused “major problems” for local events in his home county of Donegal.
While no concrete solution to the issue was reached in this discussion, the effects of the company’s sudden liquidation are clearly being felt by local organisers around the country.
Speaking to the Tipperary Star, Cllr Jim Ryan outlined the situation in more detail:
“Basically, between the festival itself and the three campsites, because the three campsites would have sold their tickets as well, you’re looking at €244,000 that has gone.
“The three campsites are Thurles Rugby Club, Thurles Gaels GAA club and the Tipperary Equestrian Centre, along with the Liberty Music Festival itself. That’s the amount of money we’re talking about, €244,000.”
Explaining how the ticketing process worked, Cllr Ryan said:
“The way they operate is they don’t release the money until after the festival.”
Cllr Ryan explained that ticket payments were held by Tickets.ie until after the events had taken place:
“If you buy a ticket for the festival, you buy it through Tickets.ie. They hold onto the money until the festival is over and then they pay it out to the festival organisers.”
On the current situation, he said:
“We don’t know what’s happening, liquidators have been appointed but we’re going ahead with the festival anyway.”
Cllr Ryan stressed that the priority was ensuring this year’s festival would proceed:
“Despite what happened, the festival is going ahead. We have secured funding and we’re going ahead with this year’s festival.
“Over the next few years, we’ll have to try to recoup the money we’re putting in as loans.”
He added:
“Once the festival is over, we’ll reflect on everything and look at options for recovering the money.”
Cllr Ryan also said organisers remained hopeful that further support may become available:
“We’re also hopeful that the Government might intervene and provide some kind of financial assistance to festivals.”
He thanked those who had helped ensure the event could continue:
“I’d also like to thank the suppliers, the campsites, Thurles Rugby Club, Thurles Crokes and the Tipperary Equestrian Centre because everyone came together. We all agreed it’s important for the town and everyone has taken a hit.
“Also, Pat Hayes, Liam Kennedy and Peter, who operate the bar at the festival, have come up with substantial sponsorship to help save the festival.”