Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We spoke about gambling regulation under the previous Government. I thought the regulation that was brought in was strong. There was a lot of talk about advertising, non-advertising and so on. People enjoy a little bit of the flutter. I am one of those who does not gamble at all. It is very rare if I ever do. I buy local lotto tickets to support local communities. I do many clinics in pubs throughout west Cork, in Durrus, Bantry, and Clonakilty and as you go along, you meet local organisations which are doing their lottos. I need to study this more but there is talk that there is some movement the Government is trying to carry out with regard to local community fundraising. That is a dangerous area to go into. That is an area where people are actually doing the Government's work. I am on 25 different committees. I was on a board of management committee up until last October or November. How many fundraisers do they have to do a year because they are not getting the funds from the State? Is the Government going to restrict them as well? The Minister of State is nodding.

The local community council has a lotto. I am involved in one of the committees in Goleen. Our lotto is for fundraising in order that we can strim the graveyards, we can do the Tidy Towns works for the community, we can clean the pitch for the soccer and the GAA and we can clean the community centre. We have workers from various different schemes but we do not have funds to pay them. We do meals on wheels and whatever. Our lotto goes out every week. We could make €700 one week. Sometimes, it can go up to €3,000, €4,000 or €5,000, then back down to €700, then up to €8,000. Is the Minister of State saying he is going to put a limit on that? How does he expect community organisations to survive? What is his game? Is the Government trying to put its paws on that money? Because of the charities regulatory Act, the Government moved in on that a few years ago. It was clever enough. It applied to any organisation that was in any way weak. Organisations are brilliant sometimes but sometimes they go down a bit and do not have the community activity. The moneys were taken back through the charities regulatory Act and many communities lost money. I remember at that time asking that, if a community group in Ballydehob lost the money, it would at least stay with other community groups in the same area, but the Government refused that.

I am asking questions about that. There are fundraisers for schools, the community council, the GAA, soccer, lotto and Cancer Connect. I could go on forever. I am involved in most of those organisations. Is the Minister of State saying he is going to introduce a new law in regard to these organisations? What kind of law will it be? Will it allow the organisations to carry on the fundraising they have always done?

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