Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My amendment is similar, if not identical, to that of Deputy Ó Laoghaire, except for amendment No. 8. As Deputy Ó Laoghaire said, there are organisations which run bingo games for charities. For example, if a GAA club wishes to organise a bingo night event, it will need a certain amount of equipment and technology to run it. The concern is that under the legislation as proposed in the amendment to section 28, it will be precluded from obtaining a licence for the purpose of running this lottery. Our first amendment is to subsection (8) which states: "A person who holds a lottery permit shall not transfer that permit to any other person and any such purported transfer shall be void and of no effect".

What we propose is the insertion of wording to the effect of save where a licensee utilises an agent to conduct a lottery on its behalf. If an applicant which is a charity applies to the District Court for a lottery licence, it cannot then transfer it to somebody else under this legislation, and charities believe that will change the position that operates at present because currently they can be delegated to be run on their behalf. I would be interested to hear what the Minister of State has to say on that. As amendments Nos. 7 and 8 are in this grouping, my amendment No. 8 proposes that "in the case of the lottery conducted by an agent of the licensee [which is what we are discussing here], not more than 25 per cent of the gross proceeds shall be utilised for the expenses of promotion, including commission". Obviously, the legislation can and should place a limit on how much money collected can be used for the profits of an agent running this type of operation. The objective we want is to ensure that most of money will go to the philanthropic and charitable purpose. I await hearing what the Minister of State has to say in respect of this.