Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak about some messages to the Taoiseach in particular in the context of the parliamentary liaison unit. The Taoiseach may be aware that hundreds of women were outside the gates of Leinster House yesterday with the slogan "SAVE OUR BINGO". I have to say I was astonished last week and earlier this week when I heard the Government intended to go to war on the simple pastime of a lot of older women. Some very elderly people enjoy a game of bingo, for the most part in former cinema halls and theatres throughout the country.

Yesterday, the women outside wanted to be able to give this petition, which I have with me, to the Government but they were not able to do so. I will mention one woman whose name is in the petition and whom the Taoiseach may well have met locally in Dublin West. Kathleen Reynolds has a severe disability but nonetheless manages to play table tennis and manages to go every week to a couple of bingo games. As she has said and as have many other women, it is her pastime. Many of the women do not drink or smoke. They go to bingo. I am sure the Taoiseach must have been brought to bingo by his mother or grandmother when he was a child, as many people were.

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