Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The amendment deals with the important issue of how gambling affects people. Gambling is not an enjoyable experience for a large proportion of people. People chase bets and hope for a silver lining but families and lives are destroyed in the process. It would be nice if it were true that only large corporate entities created a gambling culture. However, the State encourages gambling through a lotto and the National Lottery. It is still gambling even though they use nice advertisements and all the rest. A person can go into a shop, mark numbers on a lotto slip and hand it over with his or her money to a shop assistant which is probably less addictive, in my view and without a scientific background, than the very addictive scratch cards which are part of the national lottery. I have seen how addictive scratch cards can be with my own eyes and seen people really hopeful that they will win the next big prize. The State does very little to support gambling addiction but it has a responsibility and it is important that it contributes. I understand that only the bookmakers provide such funding at present. I want the State to take responsibility and not pass it on.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.