Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Denis O'Donovan raised a very serious issue of the alleged abuse of the PULSE system. This is a very serious matter which needs to be addressed. I note the examples the Senator gave and I will request the Minister for Justice and Equality to come to the House for a debate on that item.

Senator Michael Mullins and Senator Martin Conway raised the issue of gambling addiction and online betting. A vast amount of gambling is done online on the Internet. For the information of the House, the betting (amendment) Bill will be going to Cabinet next week and will come before the House in the autumn. That Bill will address the whole area of online betting. Senator Conway mentioned that I introduced a Private Members' Bill in the House which was rejected in the last session. I still believe it is a disgrace that we have a State-sponsored body, Tote Ireland, where children under the age of 18 cannot buy a national lottery ticket or go into a bookie shop and so on and yet children making their first Holy Communion children can queue up at race meetings and dog meetings, in particular. To date, no Government has taken on the vested interests in that regard. I believe that is disgraceful. People would say I am a killjoy.