Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the latter part of what the Minister of State has said, which is that all other forms of gambling will be explored because we are missing out on tens of millions of euro to the Exchequer because we do not tax this. Last night we had a debate over less than €2 million for the disability sector and yet multiples of that have gone untaxed in the gambling area. It defies logic that we are not looking at this. The Minister said that he would look at other areas and the rates last year. How long do we need to wait? In the meantime we have cut disability services and taken away discretionary medical cards. We are preparing for another budget that I am sure will have impacts on the least well off, the most vulnerable in society. How long are we going to wait?

While I support the Bill and I support the Minister of State's comments, I am frustrated at the delay and lack of commitment. Stronger sentiment should be expressed at the passage of this Bill that the rate will increase and that we will extend this to all forms of gambling, particularly the areas I have mentioned. Any online gambling operation has the sports book, the casino book and the card games. Those are basically the three areas and we are only taxing one of them. There should be more of a commitment and a timeframe. My amendment is trying to impress on the Government the urgency in this regard.

The Government did not hesitate to introduce property tax and then double the charge for property tax. It did not hesitate to introduce water charges. It did not hesitate to increase VAT to 23%. It did not hesitate to increase excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes. It did not hesitate to increase prescription charges or increase the threshold for the drugs repayment scheme. However, when it comes to these other sectors, which are relatively painless and could bring in millions of euro to the Exchequer, we have nothing but hesitation, soft words and a lack of commitment.

See this speech in context