James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Anne Rabbitte, Jim O'Callaghan and Jack Chambers for bringing forward this very important Bill. I welcome this Fianna Fáil Bill, which seeks to effectively regulate the expanding gambling sector which has emerged in recent years. This legislation updates the previous heads of a Bill published in 2013 by a Fine Gael-led Government but never acted upon. Effective regulation of this industry is long overdue. Similar to so many other areas of policy, it is disappointing that once again it is the Opposition that has to do the Government's work for it.

People take up gambling for diverse reasons. Some are amused by it while others enjoy the feeling of excitement or sense of power that risk-taking gives them. For others it is a social outlet, a way to avoid isolation. For some, especially those in difficult financial circumstances, it gives them a false sense of hope that they can win.

However, we know that gambling causes great harm. Addictive gambling is linked to numerous social problems that devastate the gambler's life, such as effects on their physical and mental health, criminal acts such as theft, bankruptcy and separation. Gambling addiction has been associated with serious mental health conditions. Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, social phobias and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, often co-occur.

This complex situation can mean that another mental health illness may make a person more vulnerable to developing an addiction. In other words, the addiction may be symptomatic of the illness or cause another illness. In such cases, the other disorders must also be treated in order to treat the addiction itself. There is hope for those with co-occurring mental health illness and gambling addiction, but all of a person's co-occurring disorders must be identified. How each condition affects the others must be understood and they must be treated together. Gambling addiction is an insidious one because there are often no outward signs that something is wrong until it is too late and they face financial ruin. With over 40,000 people in Ireland known to have a gambling addiction, with that number increasing and with the known effects being so devastating, the time for delay is long over. The time for action is now.

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