Ms Sharon Byrne:

I will briefly address something Senator Ruane said at the start of her contribution. I will allow Mr. Le Jeune to respond in the time remaining in my slot. Mr. Le Jeune made a comment that I know the Senator wants to address.

I may have misled the Senator when I referred to interventions in a shop. None of our staff are trained addiction intervention specialists. They are retail betting shop staff. The training we conduct is how to spot a potential problem gambler because a person's behaviour has changed, or a person is betting more, running out of money and trying to borrow money from their friends. Our training explains how to step in gently and confidentially when no one is watching and say to that person that there may be a little problem here because he or she has spent a bit more than last week. The staff member could ask the gambler to take a break and provide him or her with an information leaflet for the Dunlewey Centre and gamblingcare.ie. There is also a freefone service which gamblers can ring seven days a week. There are counsellors in every county in the country. There is also technical support available from Helplink, which is supported by the Gambling Awareness Trust. There is also residential treatment, which is looked after by Cluain Mhuire. That is the type of intervention I meant. We leave the addiction intervention to the professionals in the Dunlewey Centre and Cluain Mhuire.

I hope that addresses how I might have misled the Senator.