Mr. Paul Mullins:

The Deputy asked for figures for the numbers of people addicted to gambling. There are no figures as no research has been carried out in Ireland. A major element of the gambling control Bill is the research that will guide best practice.

Anecdotally - I am going by other jurisdictions - it is between 0.5% and 1.5%, which in Ireland extrapolates to about 40,000 individuals. The level of gambling among adolescents is two or three times the rate among adults. Other than by the number of those attending addiction treatment centres, we have had to go by the number of Gamblers Anonymous meetings in Ireland. In the past 12 months Gamblers Anonymous has held meetings in towns across Ireland that it has not had to hold before in order to deal with the demand. Owing to the anonymity of the organisation, we do not have specific figures. We will be starting our own study at the end of this year and will be in a better position to get these figures which should help the committee with legislation.