Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It was a pretty drastic measure by the Government to ensure that Senator Cummins backed this piece of legislation. It took this section out and put it in the Finance Bill because the Government knew he would not oppose a Finance Bill.

Senator Cummins was vociferous in his argument on this particular item when we discussed it on Second Stage. I am not as concerned as he would be and just want to say it has been removed to the Finance Act now. I welcome the fact that we have liberalised opening hours and got up to speed, particularly with regard to some of the major racing festivals, in order to ensure bookmakers are open and can compete with online betting. I knew Senator Cummins had a large degree of influence on Government. It has moved mountains and sections of legislation to ensure he did not go overboard which is pretty impressive.