Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all our guests. On the subject of gambling, I always feel a little conflicted about this issue given I was involved in bringing in the late, great Barney Curley to the Houses when we honoured him in 2015 for his wonderful charitable work for schools and hospitals in Africa. At the same time, it pricks my conscience as a legislator when I look at racing, generally on a Saturday morning, and I see the frankly manipulative advertising by gambling organisations, especially aimed at young men, it seems to me. It seems to be aimed at a class of people who probably have a much poorer chance of being able to own their own home than did the generation who went before them. It strikes me HRI might be involved in something of a conflict of interest given most of the €70 million it gets from the State comes from the betting tax. Is it tempted, therefore, to keep shtum in the hope there will not be significant change here? If there are restrictions on gambling advertising, one would hope there will less betting, which would, of course, affect HRI's budget.