Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. The last correspondence item is No. R1767. This is from Ms Carol Boate, Regulator of the National Lottery, dated 28 February 2023.

It provides information on the National Lottery Act 2013 and the national lottery licence. It is proposed to note and publish this item of correspondence. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Deputy Munster flagged this and I suggest that we deal with. The correspondence outlines the natures of the breaches. There are eight fairly substantial breaches. Self-excluded players have been readmitted to their online accounts before the end of their one-month or six-month self-exclusion period through the customer centre. There has been misleading advertisements depicting winning as an alternative to work and showing those aged under 18 in non-incidental roles. The jackpot notification email was sent to players who had opted out of receiving such emails. This was due to human error and we would accept this but the others are of note. A press release depicted winning as a way out of financial difficulties.

The top prize was omitted from three scratch card games due to errors made on spreadsheets. This was also an error but there are more significant breaches on the next page of the document. The operator failed to apply control to ensure all scratch card games matched the approved prize structure. The operator only applied it to the first print run and relied on spreadsheets thereafter. There was also a time lag in the system that allowed marketing communications to be sent to players who had self-excluded up to 36 hours after they decided to exclude.

We have these issues, and the impact of the breaches with regard to outcomes, but I do not see a penalty or sanction of any kind. We should write back to the regulator to ask whether any sanction has been applied regarding these issues that were breaches of the licence and, if not, why not. I do not know what other committee members think but we have regulatory bodies and, perhaps it is the fault of the Oireachtas that does not give them enough powers. They do not even have false teeth; they have no teeth at all. They seem to be without any powers to sanction where there are breaches in regulations. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I will now move on to our work programme. At our next meeting on 23 March, we will engage with Enterprise Ireland on its financial statements 2021 with funding for local enterprise offices as a specific issue.

On 30 March, we will engage with the Department of Rural and Community Development on its Appropriation Accounts 2021 and chapter 6 of the Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2021 on central government funding of local authorities.

On 20 April, we will resume our meeting with the Central Bank, the Department of Finance and Revenue on the insurance compensation fund and the Comptroller and Auditor General's section 2 report on unauthorised release of funds from the Central Fund. The Governor of the Central Bank and the Secretary General of the Department of Finance have confirmed their attendance. I am sure committee members are pleased to note this.

We will engage with An Bord Pleanála on 27 April on its 2021 financial statements.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's special report on the emergency procurement of ventilators by the HSE was published on Tuesday. Last week it was agreed to add consideration of this report to our work programme. I propose that we schedule a meeting on this report with the HSE and invite representatives from the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I have a suggestion to make to committee members on this. The HSE is a big beast. It has new CEO. I understand that Bernard Gloster took up the position this week. Should we bring him in to discuss the ventilators alone? The report is fairly clear and there are a little over a handful of very specific issues in it. There are conclusions and recommendations. I am open to hearing the views of members on this. I do not think we should pack the meeting but perhaps we can deal with this and one other item on the same day.