Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That has come down from a figure of well over €70 million at one point. It is true that in recent years the shift online has been a significant factor but when the initial decisions were made to cut from 20% to 10% to 5%, remote and online betting was not such an issue. I suspect we are on the same page in regard to where we would like to go, first in terms of getting the system working and then in terms of looking at the future rate. I have made no secret of the fact that I believe the betting tax should be increased, but that is not my decision. I do not make decisions on taxation. I will make my case and the Government will make a decision. Let us have a system that can capture even that 1% of online and remote betting revenue, which would bring in a considerable amount of money. I am told it may come to more than €15 million because of the volume of this type of betting. Let us get that up and running and working and have a licensing system for taking online bets from Irish punters. It does not matter whether one is based in Zanzibar or Dublin; if one takes a bet online from an Irish punter, one must be licensed to do so and one must pay for that licence or else run the risk of being shut down. Let us also be clear about what we are doing in the legislation. The actual collection of the 1% of turnover is a separate matter. In my view, most people who bet online will bet with reputable bookmakers and betting exchanges they know and trust, to which they can give their credit card details. Primarily, one is talking about the big names - Betfair, Paddy Power, Ladbroke's or whoever. I believe this will work and I am anxious that we should move on and finalise the legislation in order to get that new revenue stream.