Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We debated this matter at length on Committee Stage. I restate my opposition to what the Minister is doing. There is no reason to change something that has worked well. Gambling is not something I endorse or promote. When the lottery was first introduced, many of us were concerned about the State's involvement in promoting gambling, but at least it was controlled and the proceeds of the national lottery have gone towards funding many good causes. If there is going to be gambling in society, and we probably cannot do much to prevent that, most people believe that it should be done in a controlled way and that the proceeds should go towards society and good causes so that sports, the arts and so on might benefit.

Moving the national lottery further away from direct public control to a more privatised model, with the likelihood being that private companies, quite possibly foreign, will seek the contract to run it, is a retrograde development. The only carrot that the Government has used to package its proposal is the idea that this move would be used to finance the children's hospital. We all want that to be financed. As stated on Committee Stage though, there is no reason that an element of the funds currently intended for good causes on an annual basis could not be ring-fenced to fund the children's hospital without the necessity of a privatised national lottery, one that would begin to focus more on making profits and expanding online gambling as well as the entire lottery compared with its currently controlled form.

I do not see the necessity behind this move. We can have a children's hospital and retain the national lottery's current model. Will the Minister reconsider his proposals under this legislation?

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