Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The need for this Bill is very clear. We want to see regulation. Over the past year or so, we have had many meetings with families whose lives have been affected by gambling, bingo halls and all sorts of stakeholders. The scale and reach of gambling companies is driving the vast majority of gambling home and it needs to be tackled. There are amendments coming in respect of credit card gambling, putting people with lived experience of gambling on the board of the regulator and tightened risk assessments. I want to take the Minister up on something he said earlier, which is that it would be like the Wild West for charities. Charities are already very well regulated in other ways and they would not be pleased with what the Minister is after saying.

There is great fear coming incrementally. I had a call only this afternoon from a GAA figure in County Kerry who was worried about whether the local clubs in the area would still be able to advertise a lotto draw if it went over €10,000. It is only at that level that more and more people start buying into it apart from the regular members. Will they be deprived of people signing up for that particular draw? There are other concerns as well under section 140 about the ads and all the conditions that will have to be put on them for local cancer groups, GAA and soccer clubs. Is the annual draw that is often done by cancer charities in danger due to the onerous and maybe unnecessary calendar with 60 days applying for 12 months and all that? Only today people rang me with concerns about section 170 and withdrawing cash from a financial account and whether there will be a risk that people will not be able to pay for food at the races. That was the latest concern. The concerns about this Bill are spreading and filtering into the community. Slowly but surely, people are coming to us with their concerns over what is happening with this Bill and those concerns are increasing rather than decreasing.

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