Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There absolutely must be serious questions asked and answers given. We have written to the Oireachtas committee. It is not a case of whether the representatives should appear. The operator and the regulator must attend before the committee. They have a legal responsibility and a legal obligation to appear when they are requested to do so.

This situation seriously dents confidence in the lottery. For every approval sought from the regulator for a scratch card game, the national lottery produces the odds at which a person can win a €3, €5, €20 or a top prize. This is what their game is; it is about the odds. We are asked to believe that human error resulted in something that has odds of happening of one in 25 million billion. It is unbelievable for us to be able to accept that. Moreover, when this was found out the operator continued to sell these tickets.

The private company that operates the national lottery has made enormous profits off the back of these three games, sales of which were in excess of €20 million. Yet, there is no talk from the operator of actually refunding any of those profits back to consumers or to good causes.

There is also a serious issue with regard to the regulator. The Regulator of the National Lottery has a team of ten people. Yes, the regulation is flawed and I ask the Tánaiste to look at that, but the regulator only has one responsibility-----

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