Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I start by remembering the words of Michael O'Connor from Muckross in Killarney, a late friend of mine who only died in recent times in the year of his 108th birthday. I would meet him very regularly. He was driving his car until he was 104, living on his own and taking care of himself. He was a great man. His philosophy in life was that everything is fine in moderation, whether it is alcohol or any of the other things a person wants to do in life. Everything is fine in moderation.

Let it be quite clear there is nothing in the world wrong with gambling. There is nothing in the world wrong with the people who own, run or have gainful employment in bookie shops or the people who leave their place of work of an evening and go to have a little bet in a bookie house, or to have a drink and put a bet of a little bit of money at the same time. There is nothing in the world wrong with it, if they remember Michael O'Connor and do it in moderation. That is the moral not just of this but of everything else.

That is why I welcome the legislation. I consider it the Government's answer to try to help ensure people who are not exercising moderation are protected and helped and their families are secured and to protect them from themselves if they are not able to exercise moderation. We also have to be very careful not to demonise this industry. I call it an industry because I thank and compliment the great people where I come from in County Kerry such as the company that runs the Killarney Races and our racing festivals. The festivals are on in May, June, July, August and into September. It is the same in Listowel and we have the Glenbeigh Races. I thank all of the people who work at them. The gambling element is very important. It is only a flutter. It might be a person putting on what they can afford. That could be a few pence or euro, or it could be multiples of that if they are able to. However, a person should only be gambling and betting what they can afford to lose because there is no such thing as a bookie on a bicycle. The bookie wins far more often than not. The new advent when it comes to gambling, unfortunately, is people betting online. They are sitting at home or maybe in other places and going on their phones. They have a credit card and their phones which is a very dangerous combination.

Very good friends of mine, Timmy and Cathy O'Leary, from Cahir ran a bookies shop in Kenmare for decades. Of course, they were able to exercise prudence with their customers and ensure they were for the protection of their customers. Yes, they had their own people who used to come to have a flutter with them but they ran what I would call a respectable bookie office. These were real bookies. They were people who would encourage a person not to put on a bet if they thought they were a little bit under the weather or not in form for betting. They would be out for their customers' best interest in a very genuine way because they did not want people to part with money foolishly.

Unfortunately, the phone is no Timmy O'Leary. It is a different device which has no monitor or filter. The credit card will back up what the person is willing to place which could be a bet on two horses out in Kentucky in the United States of America at 3.30 a.m. when a he or she might be a little bit intoxicated and might be betting what he or she had in wages or money into the house that week. Of course, we have to be protective of that and try to ensure we protect people from themselves while, at the same time, not demonising the industry because it is the same as the publicans. The finest people we had in Ireland were the people who sold drink in public houses because they did so in moderation. They minded their customers and were careful of them. The closure of pubs and what I call the downturn in that way of life means there are no more measures. People are drinking at home and it is not measured in the way it was measured by the publicans. It is the same thing with the bookie office. If individuals know their customers, it is much better than the phone. I am certainly not a fan of online betting and ways it can be regulated or monitored with all the protections put in place to mind people is very important.

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