Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept what our guests have said in this regard but it is the case the companies themselves conduct research in this area. I am not clear on where our guests draw the line between what they refer to as problem gambling, which I think is a sanitised term, to be honest, and people who face serious gambling addiction issues.

In my other life, I represented people who turned to crime because of debts owed to gambling companies. It is an acute problem. The companies conduct research, but that research does not appear to be based on the position in different jurisdictions. Again, even that research by the companies never mind that done by outside bodies appears to conflate the two jurisdictions as if they were one. While I accept what the witnesses say about there being similarities - because, of course, there will be - the reality is that you will not find slot machines in Irish pubs or a prevalence of betting shops in streets here in the same way you do in certain cities in the UK. As a result, I do not accept that the culture is the same with regard to gambling. The reality is that a lot of it has moved online and may be difficult to assess from that perspective but if the companies are going to conduct research, surely they should do so in a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis rather than conflating them - leaving aside the research done by outside agencies.