Results 1,961-1,980 of 35,563 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Yes but you also referenced amendment No. 82 in terms of the prohibition of certain hours.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: I am not sure exactly where the Deputy is at in terms of advertising for community groups and so on. We now know that the definition of advertisement is not paid advertisement but that a social media post would also be deemed as advertisement. My view is that we should not be having commercial advertising in terms of gambling. I agree with the Deputy on that. It should be curtailed. That...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: The charity or philanthropic body would be delighted to get €10,000 but under the legislation, one third of it has to go to the charity, which is about €13,500. There is a problem with that part of the legislation.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: These amendments are grouped so I am trying to look at the impact of all of them. Let us look at amendment No. 65. I am doing this on the hoof so apologies. Amendment No. 65 seeks to delete "game, betting activity or lottery" and substitute "game or lottery". That is being proposed for the purposes that the Minister of State has just outlined. Why would we want charities involved in...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: I hear what the Minister of State is saying. Obviously, the Attorney General has his own team working on this. However, I think it is really problematic. We have bets, games and lotteries. That is what gambling is and to have no definition of "betting" is really problematic in legislation that will be the stand-alone and signature piece of legislation for us in this area. I make the...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: We need clarity in this regard. We will discuss social media advertising later. The section refers to advertisement and targeted advertisement. Will the Minister of State clarify, using the definition that he has now used for “advertise”, which was dealt with on amendment No. 1, whether a post that is not sponsored paid advertisement will be deemed as advertisement? The...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: The first number of these amendments are just technical because the Minister of State is deleting section 67. Amendment No. 34 is more substantive because it gets rid of section 67, on persons advertising relevant gambling activity, in its entirety. The section is being replaced by other sections through a number of amendments. The amendments are a great improvement on what we have now,...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: We will come to the levy in Deputy Gould's next amendment but I have not heard a convincing argument as to why they do not come under freedom of information. We know that a lot of freedom information requests do not work anyway. We wait months to get to get answers and on many occasions we get an answer back that it is considered commercially sensitive or so on. A lot of this would not be...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: The amendments, as the Minister of State said, are technical and deal with the staffing of the authority. The previous amendments from my colleagues also looked at staffing of the authority. It is a positive part of the legislation that we have an authority that will regulate gambling in the State, which we did not have until now. There will be much responsibility on the staff and those...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: I strongly support these amendments regarding the lived experience and to make sure the authority does not become captured by those in the industry. The industry is broad because we are not only dealing with the commercial, as it goes far beyond that. This goes to the heart of Sinn Féin's approach to this issue. There is a major problem with gambling in this State and the...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Where?

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: And it is outdated.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: The Government is creating a law that people are going to break.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: From the Minister of State's contribution, he clearly does not want to try to reach agreement on how to fix this. I thought I was being fair enough with my comments because I think we can fix this, and I said I did not believe it was his intention, but maybe I have a different view of it now. I have told him there are companies driving a coach and horses through this already. I know...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Hang on a second-----

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Hold on a second. If the Government wants to support the sector, clubs will not be able to do that unless they advertise their car. That is just a fact. A GAA club or a community development association that is raffling a house will not be able to do that unless it is able to advertise, but companies such as McKinney Motors - I could name numerous ones - will be able to continue to raffle...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Do we want to fix this or not? Fianna Fáil's legislation is going to crucify these groups and charities.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: That is the problem with what the Minister of State is bringing before the House today. The Government really needs to have a rethink here. This is seriously problematic legislation for those cohorts. I completely and utterly welcome the rest of it. We need strict regulation because problem gambling is an issue, as is gambling addiction. The gambling fund and authority are very good and...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (24 Apr 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Unfortunately, this was ahead of schedule so I missed some of the earlier contributions, which went very swiftly. Although it is in the Register of Member's Interests, I want to declare that I am a director of a not-for-profit music festival in Donegal. Everyone is welcome to come on 12 July. This music festival, being not for profit, also operates a philanthropic, lottery licence. I...