John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Therefore we should re-examine the essential privatisation of the national lottery. The same pitfalls are embedded in this legislation.

I also fear there is an element of not wasting a good crisis. Some people have an interest in selling off State assets like the lottery and Coillte. It is short sighted and should be revisited. If we look at where we turned to the private sector in terms of roads and tolls, we paid them enough upfront to do the job and then promised them more money even when motorists pay a high fee to use the toll bridges. Now we are subsidising them on top of that because of a flawed strategy where we top up payments to the private companies that run the toll roads.

This Government has done trojan work, and I commend the Minister and his colleague the Minister for Finance, on making considerable towards regaining our economic independence and coming out from underneath the strictures of the troika. We are within touching distance of going back to the markets and having our own independence. I respectfully suggest, therefore, that this is not the time to sell of the family silver. It is a time to take a long-term view. I agree the national lottery yielded billions for the arts and community projects and sporting organisations but I would question where some of that funding went. I doubt it was ever intended for it to go to exclusive golf clubs. There is not a person in the State who would begrudge the money from the national lottery being set aside for the national children's hospital.

I welcome the Minister's comments about the insidious invasiveness of on-line gambling. It is now in our living rooms; it is impossible to watch any sport now without gambling being available. People do not have to leave the comfort of their homes to spend the family's income for the week. That is a danger and it is important the Minister appoints a regulator to put a back stop in place for that.

We need clarity on this. If we are going to proceed as the Government is minded to, we must be clear about what is happening and ensure there are safeguards in place in the legislation to make sure we do not create bigger problems.