Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the publication of the Bill. I am sure Senator Cummins has very honourable and sound reasons for bringing it forward and I commend him on the amount of time he has given to preparing it. It is worded very well and the principle he is seeking to apply is laudable.

Like Senator Norris, I would not like to debate the principle in terms of money, jobs or anything else because the issue is one of practicality. There is a serious problem, but it does not involve the correlation between youth gambling and compulsive gambling in adulthood because we do not have these figures. I agree with Senator Cummins and Senator Norris that we should have these figures. That brings me to the question of the body which was established by the Government to draw up a report on the matter. There is an anomaly which must be examined and addressed. I am not sure how the anomaly should be addressed to safeguard people under the age of 18 from the potential compulsion of addictive gambling in adulthood.

Nevertheless, there is an important principle which must be examined and the Bill is one way of doing so. All the Members who spoke here tonight recalled stories about days of enjoyment, gaiety and fun at the races. Being from the hills, the only fun, enjoyment and gaiety we had was at greyhound meetings. I will now tell a story about the trouble I got into over betting.