Results 6,461-6,480 of 23,548 for speaker:Michael Healy-Rae
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: The impression one gets from this debate is that we all support the small bingo operations in community halls, which we do. I do not see why we should give the impression that, as legislators, we are out to get at the monster bingo events. There are thousands of people who adore monster events such as bingo week and the type of event I attended in the INEC in The Gleneagle Hotel in...
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: Somebody should have explained that to the Taoiseach before he stood up-----
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: I am only stating a fact.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: Let us not give the impression we are against monster bingo events, because there is nothing wrong with them. The Minister of State has to clarify to the people, whether they are the small clubs that benefit from bingo events or the weekly bingo events going on since 1958, what in the name of God is wrong with allowing them continue. We should leave it to them to determine what prize funds...
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: I am not going to pick a row with Deputy Thomas Byrne because I do not want to do so but he made comments about people meeting people-----
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: -----and being lobbied by sharp-suited lobbyists.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: I am not talking to the Deputies at all, nor have I any intention in the world of talking to them.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: The people I met were people who play bingo. I met people from Deputy Shortall's constituency yesterday and they were the nicest people in the world that one could wish to meet. They were nice and respectable people. They were not what I would call lobbyists. They were people who came here because they had concerns. They heard what the Minister of State was proposing, they read about it...
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: All I am saying is the people I met were the salt of the earth. They want to continue playing bingo and they have grave concerns about that. This has still not been put right tonight because there is still worry and concern out there and there are messages coming through that there is no clarity about the funds that will be made available and if they will be under threat. Another thing has...
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: The Deputy raised some fears herself.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: The Deputy went after the grannies for a long time.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: He is still focused.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: On a point of clarification, I played bingo only five weeks ago.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: I am not indisposed at all.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: I am here.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: This is terribly important. Anybody who understands the game of bingo knows that on the night bingo is called, the amount of prize money available for a line or a full box cannot be predetermined until people pay for their admittance on the door and those organising the bingo know the number of people are playing the game, which will determine the prize money available, be it for a line, a...
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: He has the people terrified.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: He is making a bad job of it.
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: Does this not speak to the core issue, which is the dividing of money? I specifically refer to the amount taken in, the portion that an organiser can take to run the event, and the amount of prize money. Does this not speak to the cause of the trouble because there is uncertainty over what right the legislation provides to control the amount of money to be given for charitable use? We all...
- Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (4 Dec 2019)
Michael Healy-Rae: I also thank Deputy Martin Kenny for tabling this amendment. That he had to do so shows the uncertainty and lack of clarity in the context of what is being proposed. I also have concerns for people who are operating businesses of this sort and who are fearful regarding the jobs they create and the service they provide. Those to whom I refer are concerned that this section will have a...