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Tickets for Ed Sheeran’s upcoming Dublin concerts can already be bought online for as much as 10 times their face value despite the fact that they do not officially go on sale until Thursday morning.
On Wednesday morning there were more than 150 tickets available for April’s two concerts in the Three Arena on reseller website viagogo.ie with prices ranging from just under €300 to more than €700.
There were no tickets for sale on the more high-profile - and more controversial -Seatwave which is owned by Ticketmater.
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There were two separate pre-sales of the tickets - the first of which started on Tuesday on the singer’s website.
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Those tickets sold out in less than 20 minutes while a second advance-sale on the Three website on Wednesday morning also proved hugely popular selling out in less tghan 12 minutes.
With tickets already appearing on the viagogo website at vastly inflated prices it appears that - as was the case with the recent controversy over U2's summer time concert in Croke Park - touts were at the top of the line when the pre-sales started.
The attraction of the concerts is clear and anyone in possession of tickets for one of the two concerts could profit handsomely from what is almost certainly going to be one of the most popular gigs to take place in Dublin this year.
Earlier this week, the Minister for Communications Denis Naughten said he planned to recommend to the cabinet that it supports a Private Members' Bill outlawing ticket touting.
A Private Members' Bill, drafted by Fine Gael TD Noel Rock and Independent TD Stephen Donnelly, would ban the resale of tickets for above face value, with the exception of tickets which are auctioned for charity.
Mr Naughten and the former minister for justice Alan Shatter brought forward a Bill against touting in the early part of the last decade when they were both Fine Gael TDs, but it did not make it past committee stage.
Separately, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has already announced an investigation into suspected breaches of competition law in relation to the provision of tickets.
The CCPC has issued witness summonses and formal requirements for information to those involved.
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