Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Gambling Control Bill: Discussion

11:55 am

Mr. Don Bird:

Our concern is specifically that as stated by Deputy Corcoran Kennedy. The 1956 Act was a little elusive in how it treated prize stalls at fairgrounds and made some effort to exclude them by saying that gaming was not illegal at a fairground if it was not the main activity. With the heads of the gaming Bill, we are specifically concerned that the new definitions for what is a funfair and gambling or gaming bring us to the core. A prize stall could be construed as a gaming instrument and, in effect, we would not be allowed to have people under 18 playing in what we would consider a family activity. It is a major concern.