Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

One of the hidden crises in society is gambling addiction. It gets far less attention than other forms of addiction but in many ways it is more insidious and causes incredible harm. The gambling control Bill, which has been promised for some considerable time, was to provide a new regulatory and licensing framework to deal with gambling and to provide for a new regulatory body. The Taoiseach will recall that the previous administration established a regulator for the national lottery. Part of the thought process at that time was that, in time, the lottery regulator might well become the gambling regulator. We need to have an authoritative body with strong legislative powers to deal with gambling and especially the growing propensity of people to gamble incredible amounts of money online. What progress has been made on the gambling control Bill? Will the Taoiseach make it a priority? Will he share his thoughts on the possible structure of the authority?

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