Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I draw the attention of the House and anyone listening to an independent consultancy company that has expertise in winning parliamentary support and has been travelling the corridors of Leinster House and throughout various communities lobbying for - guess who - Camelot. For those Senators who have forgotten, Camelot is the gaming company that runs the British lottery. The independent consultancy company is brilliant. Its clients include asset managers, fund administrators, hedge funds, banks, accountancy firms, lawyers, consultants and insurers, everyone and everything that the poor and the socially excluded who play the lottery are not about. The company prides itself on below-the-radar intelligence. It is in the right place because the sale of the Irish lottery is happening below the radar.

The company also makes sense of legislative environments in which its clients find themselves. It crafts its messages to senior decision makers, that is, Members. Hence, it is wandering the corridors of Leinster House. The company builds and uses political support with other like-minded organisations, for example, Camelot. In its own words, it knows exactly where its clients need to be to influence decisions in its favour. It represents one of the world's largest gaming companies and is crawling around our corridors.

Will any Senator who has been approached by this company let me know by e-mail? It is extraordinary that a company with such below-the-radar intelligence does not realise that Senators are sometimes outside the influence of select committees. It is picking on the wrong people in this House.

Will the Leader arrange for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to attend the House to explain to me how this company, which represents gaming consortia from around the world, can lobby Members to sign off on their great profit margins when the poor and disadvantaged who play the lottery and pay for the licence are not given the same courtesy, swag men or introductions in the Houses?