Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like everyone else, I have met families and individuals and seen the impact gambling has had on their lives. I have seen families destroyed by it, marriages destroyed, job prospects destroyed and housing applications rejected.

People who are applying to borrow money are not able to get a loan because lenders check to see whether a person gambles regularly. I accept there are problems. I remember a person who needed to have a buddy system because he could not go to the local employment exchange as it meant passing the one-armed bandits, the slot machines. There were quite a lot of them in Dublin at one time. It would shock us to see the impact that the casinos have on the lives of individuals. We need to bring balance to the issue. We have all been approached by people who are concerned about the direction in which this Bill is going. I hope the Minister of State will say it will not have an impact. However, there is genuine concern. We all know clubs that at various times have had to fundraise to try to get substantial funds. A club in my constituency ended up in the courts because it owed huge amounts of money. It is still trying to pay that money back. There are challenges and fundraising is needed at every level.

Most of the voluntary groups in the health service, such as the Neurological Alliance of Ireland whose representatives were in the House earlier, must fundraise. Hardly a week goes by without a group coming before the health committee. I accept that gambling has health implications but all these groups have to fundraise and are looking to see how to do it. We took the right approach in trying to remove alcohol from sport. There are cups sponsored by alcohol groups and racing is sponsored by people involved in gambling. Balance is needed. Gambling comes up on the television late at night. It is online too and I do not know how that will be dealt with. There needs to be a balance between what is fair and what is unfair. All the clubs and charities are asking who will fill the gap. Will it be the Government? Will the Government come up with alternative fundraising methods? Society would collapse without these voluntary charity groups. I will be interested to hear from the Minister of State what the Government’s approach will be for all those groups that currently, whether we like it or not, engage in raffles and so forth.

I am also conscious that many older people love to go to bingo. Will the regulations impact on them? In working class communities there are not rich individuals who can put their hands in their pockets every month or week. In some cases, there are many rich people but they are involved in the drug scene. Clubs and charities do not want to lend them credibility through generosity or charity work. I appeal to the Minister of State to look at this again. I agree with my colleague that it needs more scrutiny. I do not know whether we will have that tonight. Many concerns have been raised tonight, not just on the Opposition side. Some of the Government Members will outline the challenges they are facing in their communities and the questions they are being asked and find difficult to answer.

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