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

The points have been largely made. Regulators dealing with market forces deal with a different type of regulation and we could certainly examine issues in this regard. One must think carefully when giving market forces freer rein in sensitive or critical areas or sectors of the economy or society. The reason the Minister needs a regulator in this instance is precisely because he is moving from a much more publicly controlled form of gambling to opening up a potentially dangerous area of gambling. I am concerned, as are others, that this is what the Minister is doing and he needs a regulator to do it. The experience has been where free market forces have been left off the leash regulators have failed. I accept the Minister's point that certain consumer areas have done okay, although I would like to see evidence to debate this wider issue.

The more I hear what the Minister says what seems to be implicit is that we want to see the gambling sector grow. If this is what we are saying I have grave concerns about it, and it should be debated as an issue on its own before we decide we are moving, perhaps out of economic desperation because of the state of the economy, to open up an area such as gambling. It does not seem to be a very sustainable way to deal with the current climate. I do not see why, if what we are trying to do is continue to control gambling and have a lottery which will be a controlled form of gambling to finance good causes as has been the case in the past, we must shift from direct control by the Department to a regulator. It can only be happening because we are opening up the area to privatisation, which is potentially dangerous.

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