Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the first things I learned when I became a TD is that when it comes to legislation and amendments, there is the possibility of unintended consequences. The longer one is here, the more experience one gets and one learns that a Bill or an amendment, in and of itself, might be introduced for the right reasons but it can have ramifications or consequences that are way beyond whatever it set out to do.

I am a member of St. Vincent's GAA club. The Cork County Board runs a fabulous draw that clubs buy into, at €100 per ticket. That draw has raised €8 million over the last four years in profits for the clubs. Mine is an average-sized club that has intermediate football and junior hurling teams. There would not be huge sales in the area I am from but the €4,000 or €5,000 that we make, which might be small in comparison to other clubs, is a huge amount of money for us. Every month, the first prize in the draw is €20,000 but the first prize in the December draw is €100,000. In other years, there were cars and lots of different prizes. Every GAA club in Cork county, and every club in every other county, depends on their county board draw. We heard Deputies Buckley and Donnelly talking about charities raffling cars. I remember my own club raffling a car a few years ago to raise money to provide a gym for the young players. At the time we did not have the resources and the car draw brought in €26,000 which helped us to fit out a gym. I have often bought tickets from charities that are trying to raise money but as someone said earlier, a lot of these charities, sporting organisations and community groups are fundraising because the Exchequer is not providing funding. A lot of charities and groups like the Irish Cancer Society and Marymount Hospice in Cork run different types of events all of the time. I could be wrong but there seems to be an issue with this legislation's provisions in relation to advertising and promoting such events.

If they cannot go outside their Facebook followers or that kind of base, how are they ever going to raise the money they need for their charities or organisations? I come from an average sized club but we cannot afford to lose the Cork county board draw or the ability to run major fundraising events, whether it is a draw for a house, a car or a really substantial event. The only way we could make a success of that is if we go to the wider audience and community and the bigger GAA family around Cork and nationally because our membership is limited. That is the one great thing about the association and probably all sports. We have run events below and we have had people buying tickets in Dublin and Galway. That is not gambling; that is supporting the GAA or supporting charities. The Minister needs to look at this again. We support the Bill. We support the need for a regulator and an authority and we also support the protection of people who are at risk from harmful gambling. I deal with these people all the time. I know people who gamble and they do not consider buying a ticket for a house or car for a charity or a GAA club or any sporting or community organisation gambling. They consider that supporting their community. On how we match this up, the Minister has to do it. He has to find a way to protect vulnerable people but, at the same time, protect charities and sporting and community organisations.

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