Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did not know amendment No. 12 was in this grouping. I thank an Teachta Rabbitte. Amendment No. 12 is the most important one. I thank the Deputy for the prompt. We are concerned about the legislation. There was an occasion previously where the Minister, Deputy Ross, recommitted a measure and he allowed an amendment through, at a glance, to a road traffic Bill. I want an amendment called the bingo amendment that will allow the plain people of Ireland to have their little bit of sport. The Minister of State should not kill them off, so to speak, altogether. They pay their taxes, work very hard, rear their families and support the clubs, and part of their social life and interaction with their communities is through bingo.

I have been a member of a voluntary housing association for more than 20 years. We were discussing last night that we have made it very difficult, through all the legislation and so on, for ordinary volunteers to get the seven or nine members of a board. People no longer want to be involved. They are smothered with paperwork, bureaucracy and regulations. I am concerned about amendment No. 12 because it can have unintended consequences and put the fear of God into people. Does the Minister of State want them in the hills and the caves, as they were hundreds of years ago? Let them go out to support themselves. They are not getting anything from the Government. They are asking to be allowed to run their bingo, day clubs, lotteries or whatever to keep their clubs and to get the jerseys for the children. We talk about childhood obesity. This is all about what makes people tick.

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