Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are 150 independent stores, and of that number one group has 50 stores and another two groups have 30 stores. This is 80. That 150 is now down to fewer than 70. The days are gone when a betting shop may have been a family run small business, because of the 800 shops, fewer than 70 are family businesses. Betting shops are big business and the vast majority are run by big companies.

In the Irish Bookmakers Association opening statement, Ms Byrne spoke of the self-exclusion scheme in betting shops. Will Ms Byrne please expand on that? There is a national register. Ms Murphy referred earlier to a photograph of the person being used. How does the association make sure of that? If a person is looking to self-exclude surely a photograph could be taken in store? We do not want a person who is self-excluding from one store going down the road to another betting shop. If a person is excluding themselves, it should be from all betting shops. How does the association make sure that this works?

How long has the scheme been in operation? How is the success of the scheme analysed? Has the association done an analysis and is the scheme seen to be successful? Does the association have data on that? How does a scheme operate for online betting? Was this information included in the association's submission on the voluntary code of practice for all operators, online and retail, and if not why not?