James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the comment that no one requested it, it was requested unanimously by the Joint Committee on Justice that a ban on advertising be brought in with no exceptions. I listened to the members from the justice committee who have addressed it here in the Dáil. I have listened to TDs outside of the justice committee who have addressed it in this Chamber. I have listened to members of Fianna Fáil and, indeed, Deputies from Fine Gael who have come forward to talk to me about the situation and the issue.

The challenge has always been that once we bring in a ban on advertising and create exemptions, we have to ensure those exemptions are not open to abuse. Nobody has a problem, having looked at the situation. If this had been brought to the attention of the Joint Committee on Justice, it would have recommended an exemption for the charity and sporting sectors.

The charity and sporting sectors are currently covered by gambling legislation, and it is in their interests that they continue to be governed by it to prevent bad actors. Our challenge with bringing in an exemption for the charity and sporting sectors is that we would have the potential for very foreseeable significant abuse of that by bad actors. I gave an example about an hour ago when I clearly indicated that we will be bringing forward amendments to address it. For example, someone could set up a darts club and call it the "XX Sports Club", with XX being the name of a gambling company, and then take advantage of the exemption for the charity and sporting sectors. Deputy Doherty spotted that potential abuse as well. Therefore, what we want to do is have a situation whereby the charity and sporting sectors are exempted, and it is not open to abuse by bad actors or others. Deputy Murphy brought forward an amendment that came close, but I need to make several changes to it to be able to get it across. Sinn Féin also engaged in bringing that forward. Deputies from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil brought forward ideas as well. I am working with the officials, who have gotten some abuse here, totally unfairly, because they were the Joint Committee on Justice's recommendations, not theirs. They are actually the ones who have been working very hard to find that solution and we believe we have that solution now. We will be bringing amendments forward in the Seanad to exempt the charity and sporting sectors completely, but with protective amendments to ensure the exemption cannot be abused by those bad actors. That is what we will be doing. The amendments in the Seanad have to come back to the Dáil, so they will be discussed again.

I will point out to Deputy Healy-Rae that while Labour Party, Social Democrats, Sinn Féin, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Deputies all brought forward ideas on how to solve this, he did not. He had a chance to bring forward amendments and he did not. He stood up and had a good old rant for himself.

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