Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My understanding is section 12, which is the section dealing with lottery licences, will be recommitted to Committee Stage. We are probably already dealing with it to some extent in the conversation we are having but that would be a wise way forward. While Deputy Ó Laoghaire mentioned I had proposed a solution, I had not formally proposed it here but I want us to look at the 50% the Government is talking about as being the cap on the prize money. If that was moved to 75% it would be up to the operator to decide what portion of that they would be able to put back out in prize money. The 25% going to charitable causes is at the root of this and that is what we need to see happen. Many of the big operators that currently get a licence to run bingo, get that licence on the premise they will give a portion of the takings to charity. The current legislation does not say how much must go to charity so they run the bingo, they have a large profit and they give 1% or nothing to charity. This legislation will force them to give 25% to charity. That is what it does, that part of the legislation is appropriate and we need to do that.

However, there is an issue that needs to be addressed, namely that in order for bingo to be viable the pot has to be above 50%. That is where we run into the problem and unless we can deal with that we will have an issue but we can find a solution to that. The smaller bingo operators I deal with in rural Ireland give out less than €5,000 in prize money per week so they come under the permit section and that does not apply to them at all. That would be the case with most of the bingo operators I know such as those that operate in small GAA clubs and community centres around the country. They would be giving out less than €5,000 per week and many of them would be giving out less than €5,000 per month in prize money. They do not come into this, therefore. A lot of tension has been raised with ordinary decent people who go out to play bingo and enjoy their night out. Maybe some of it is inappropriate and should not have happened but we are where we are, there is an issue and the Minister of State can deal with that issue. I hope that when we get to the recommittal we will deal with it in an appropriate manner and move forward.

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