Results 881-900 of 7,010 for speaker:James Browne

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Gambling Sector (22 Oct 2024)

James Browne: As the Deputy may be aware, I have no regulatory or oversight role in relation to the activities of licensed bookmakers in Ireland. These licences are issued by the Revenue Commissioners. The Deputy will also appreciate that I cannot provide legal advice or comment on individual cases. The landmark Gambling Regulation Bill - having now passed all stages here in the houses - will...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: To state the obvious, we intend to enact it as quickly as possible. As the Deputy pointed out, we have a CEO designate for the gambling regularly authority of Ireland and significant money has been spent on setting it up. It would become quite embarrassing quite quickly, quite frankly, if the Bill was not commenced as quickly as possible. I cannot give specific deadlines or dates, but I...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: I can assure the Deputy that this regulatory authority will not be toothless or fruitless. It will be a very powerful regulatory authority. It will regulate an industry that we estimate is worth €6 billion. We are not sure of the figure, because, unfortunately, we do not have proper regulation in this area, and that is what we are addressing in the Bill. The regulatory authority...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: On the enforcement side, in the Bill we have tied almost everything to the licence. If someone is in breach of advertising regulations, they can lose their licence as well as face serious fines, etc. Even if we commenced the provisions relating to advertising next week, that will not be relevant until licences are issued. There is an element of all duck and no dinner, to a certain degree....

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendment No. 270 amends Schedule 2 to the Bill to specify that a person may purchase a ticket or book of tickets to participate in bingo and sets the maximum price for these.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: A significant amount of work has gone into this legislation. I want to thank my officials, including the team working on it at the moment and the previous members of the team. An extraordinary amount of work has gone into what is an extremely complex legislation which not only regulates a massive industry that has largely gone unregulated, but deals with the public health perspective and...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: As I said earlier, we are satisfied that they cannot advertise either the licensee or the activity, and that will cover most circumstances. In addition to that, the authority has the power to make regulations relating to advertising in addition to explicit dedicated sections in respect of gambling advertising. If people are in a situation where they have consented to something, they will...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: I hear the Deputy's concerns and I understand those concerns are very much genuine. Even if the Deputy is correct, which we do not necessarily accept, the authority does have significant regulatory powers to make regulations to control advertising. That amendment was one of the key amendments we brought in through this legislation. There is that fallback position where the authority,...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: I will discuss amendments Nos. 200 and 201 together. These clarify that it shall be an offence to offer a targeted inducement to a person or a specific group of people and that offers or promotions to the public must comply with any regulations made under this section. Such regulations may impose conditions, including restrictions on the manner in which an offer is conveyed to the public...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendment No. 211 is a restatement and tweaking of the section dealing with privileged legal material. Amendment No. 212 inserted a new section into the Bill to provide that the authorised officer of the authority may request copies of records and information from certain officials under other Acts where the information or records are needed in the performance of their duties and a...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Regarding premises, we are satisfied that it will allow for selling tickets around the pitch. In fairness, Deputy Doherty captured that problem in the original Bill. Deputy McGrath has called me obstinate and said that I have not accepted anything raised by other Deputies, but when Deputy Doherty spotted that we made the necessary change to address it. Regarding multiple licences, the...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: The Interpretation Acts provide that reference to the singular also covers the plural. Therefore, "payment" and "payments" mean the same thing within the legislation. It is the same with "licence" and "licences". The bingo sector has raised that consistently over recent months and we have sought to clarify it for that sector as well. The singular meaning plural and plural meaning singular...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendments Nos. 174, 178 and 179 are technical amendments. Amendments Nos. 175 and 176 cover specified changes in licensees' information that must be notified to the authority. Amendment No. 177 provides that a commercial licence is granted subject to compliance with certain conditions. Amendment No. 178 provides that the requirement to hold segregated customer accounts applies to both...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendments Nos. 183 to 188, inclusive, are drafting changes recommended by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to make this section clearer and linguistically accurate. Similarly amendments Nos. 191, 192 and 194 are technical in nature.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendment No. 196 is technical in nature and deletes a section in the Bill as passed by the Dáil to facilitate its reinsertion in section 228 as inserted on Committee Stage in the Seanad alongside other consequential amendments to other legislation.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendments Nos. 154 to 156, inclusive, clarify the application process and criteria for holding a once-off lottery. Amendments Nos. 157, 158, 161, 162, 163, 166 and 167 are all technical amendments. Amendments Nos. 159 and 164 provide for the ability of the authority to determine how gambling activities may be provided by a licensee, where they may be provided from and if children are...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: These amendments are both technical. Amendment No. 121 corrected cross-references in section 97 while amendment No. 122 removed redundant language from this section.

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendments Nos. 140 to 142, inclusive, clarified the application process and criteria for holding a once-off lottery in a calendar year. Amendment No. 143 exempted certain premises from assessment by the authority. Amendments Nos. 144 to 153, inclusive, provided for the ability of the authority to issue or renew an in-person gambling licence, having assessed a premises, the details relating...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: Amendments Nos. 97, 105 to 109, inclusive, 123 to 127, inclusive, 129, 130, 134, 138 and 139 are all either technical amendments to address minor drafting issues, numbering or linguistic changes for clarity and are not substantive in nature. Amendments Nos. 98 to 104, inclusive, 110 to 114, inclusive, 128, 131 to 133, inclusive, 135 to 137, inclusive, and 173 are related to the...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: From the Seanad (16 Oct 2024)

James Browne: I thank the Deputy for his question. The original plan was to ban them altogether. We then had to make some exceptions for locations such as horse racing tracks, where people may take out money to buy food or whatever the case may be. If people want to have a machine on the premises, they will need to make a separate application to the authority. The authority will then take everything...