Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Their latest insidious stunt is the introduction of a packet of 25 cigarettes that costs €9.90. In other words, the unit cost of a single cigarette has been reduced. I believe that contravenes the minimum pricing laws. It is regrettable that the European Court of Justice has a different view on these things. Senator Barrett is right to remind us to keep the foot on the pedal when it comes to this legislation.

I would like to join others in expressing concern about gambling. I know the Leader made a significant contribution in this area in the previous Seanad. We have been promised legislation in this regard. The traditional betting shop form of gambling is on the decrease throughout the world, including in Ireland. That is probably unfortunate, in a way, because if human beings are responsible for taking bets from people there is some chance that this activity can be policed properly - that bets will not be taken from young people, for example. The huge increase in the amount of Internet gambling has been an unfortunate result of the development of modern technology. In my view, online gambling has very serious consequences for society, particularly people who have a propensity towards addiction. Online gambling is being used as part of the refusal kit by financial institutions when refusing mortgage applications. If they see paddypower.ie or any of the other major gambling companies on a person's bank statement or a credit card statement, that information is used as part of the refusal kit even though that person might be gambling just €20 or €40 a month. This country is losing significant revenue as a result of its failure to regulate online gambling.