Results 1-20 of 49 for lottery speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Protection of Children (Online Age Verification) Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: ...Dáil elections. Adolescence means becoming an adult. We have fixed an age of majority at the age of 18. People argued that somehow it would be a good idea if people who we do not permit to smoke, buy a lottery ticket, enter the contract of marriage, go into licensed premises except in certain circumstances are nonetheless mature enough to make decisions about national political...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...whether we are guilty of double standards when it comes to the age of majority. If someone is incapable of going into a pub or off-licence and buying a can of beer or of going into a shop and buying a lottery ticket because he or she is regarded by law as being vulnerable and someone who should not be permitted to do that, why do we say that his or her judgment as to who should be on the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...local authority members can still do is decide whether, in their functional area, people can run amusement arcades with slot machines and the like. It is a power they have under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956. Dublin City Council revoked any such permission 30-something years ago, yet in the city centre there is a vast amount of these places operating illegally and nobody is doing...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...Bills. Why was it changed to create a situation where the majority of persons in the Supreme Court shall now become ineligible for appointment? I think it is an insult to them that, by statute, a lottery is effectively held among the members of the Supreme Court and good, sensible, reasonable candidates for the position of Chief Justice are rendered ineligible by a decision of the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 Jul 2022)

Michael McDowell: ..., as does the mica remediation legislation. On the other hand, business which will not reach Report and Final Stages next week and could be scheduled for the autumn, such as Senator Ward's National Lottery (Amendment) Bill and a Green Party Bill about animal welfare, which is not urgent, is now being slotted in to take up time which could be allocated to the other legislation proposed to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Gambling Regulation Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Mar 2022)

Michael McDowell: .... Whereas this Bill brings in possibilities of control, the general scheme seems to be that gambling is fine. I notice that head 69 proposes that anybody providing any goods or services can operate a lottery to encourage its purchase, with a limit of €5,000 in prizes. In other words, if you are selling widgets, biscuits or anything like that, you can, without a licence so long as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Gambling Regulation Bill: Discussion (8 Mar 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...extensive advertising? It cannot be prevented from appearing on the side of football pitches during Premier League matches and the like. Is it necessary to normalise gambling through bingo and lotteries to the extent that is happening in the UK?

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: ...subject of this debate today. There has been a scandalous failure on the part of the prosecuting authorities to implement the law relating to gambling in this city of Dublin. Under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956, no gambling type of casino or amusement arcade may operate without a resolution having been passed to enable it to happen. Nevertheless, surrounding us in this city and...

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...used for promoting "gaming by means of a gaming machine." If this is the case, this legislation has nothing to do with making lawful that which is manifestly unlawful. Dublin City Council, under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956, has not adopted a resolution to permit gaming by machines in this city. Vast sums are being made by the owners of arcades right under our noses. Automated...

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...is not here to determine what is lawful or unlawful but he and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, are the two political heads of the Department under whose aegis gaming and lotteries are controlled in Irish law. In both the cities of Cork and Dublin, the laws are being flagrantly broken. If it is the case that the Garda Commissioner no longer enforces the law, it is...

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...because I am not getting clarity from the Minister of State as to whether any of these machines can be operated in an amusement hall unless the local authority has adopted a resolution under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956. I must have some clarity on this. Either what is happening in O'Connell Street and on the quays and on the road out to the airport is permissible on foot of these...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...arrange for the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, to discuss the presence of gambling casinos and their operation in Dublin, which is in flagrant contravention of the gaming and lotteries legislation. As I understand it, there will be no relevant amendment and all of those operations are illegal but for some reason they have now been in operation for ten years and nobody...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...about changes made by the Department of Justice and Equality to the circumstances and way in which bingo is operated in various centres in the country. All of that is dealt under the Gaming and Lotteries Act, as amended. The simple fact is that there is a far more serious issue that is not being addressed at all. I refer to the flagrant breaches of the law being perpetrated daily on our...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...the arms of politicians. The damage done by these machines, fixed-odds betting terminals, in Britain and here has been enormous. They create substantial poverty and misery among people. The Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 has had the effect of prohibiting certain activities in Dublin city amusement arcades where these machines are located.One need only walk up O'Connell Street or down the...

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...and multigames and featured a huge picture of a roulette wheel which covered both doors. Two things occurred to me when I saw that van. First, it shows how flagrant the abuse of the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 is. On the back of the van was geographical information referring to Athy, Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Mallow, Naas, Waterford and Wexford. It occurred to me that to the best of my...

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Senator Clifford-Lee's amendment, in subsection (4), defines "lottery gain" as having the meaning given to the term under the National Lottery Act 2013. That is not confined to national lottery gains. It is a generic description of what amounts to a lottery gain and it does not have to be run by the national lottery. In fairness to the Senator, her amendment would cover non-national lotteries.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I want to raise two matters today. One is the publication, in the name of the Leader on 27 March 2019, of a Bill from the Department of Justice and Equality in respect of gaming and lotteries. The bottom line of this Bill is that the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 is to be amended so as to take the right to decide whether to permit gaming casinos and amusement halls in their areas away from...

Seanad: Gambling Legislation: Motion (27 Feb 2019)

Michael McDowell: I strongly support this motion in the name of the Independent Group of Senators. I want to acknowledge some basic truths. When I was Minister for Justice and Equality the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 came under pressure because poker clubs started being established in Dublin. Some were funded and owned by very rich and powerful people. It was clear to me that they were illegal, as...

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...Equality of the day was effectively under the spotlight in terms of what had happened to these "children". We have protections for children relating to the purchase of alcohol and even to national lottery tickets. We have many protections in place for children. I do not know whether it is still the case but when I was a youngster, one was allowed to bet on the tote. There are people...