Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá fáilte romhat, a tAire Stáit. I pressed an amendment to this Bill last week to provide that warnings would be issued by Government on all gambling and betting outlets. My colleague, Senator Darragh O'Brien, brought to the Seanad's attention the number of gambling machines that are available in betting offices. I heard today that a public house in the south east, well away from the Leader's constituency, now has a mini bookie office on its premises. I read some of the research on this area and this has particular resonance for the Minister for Finance. As much €27.3 million being lost annually as a result of gaming machines.

I related two stories here last week. One is the case of parents who found their son had raised debts of €15,000 through gambling. The other case is that of a married man who had lost €80,000 in the space of six weeks and was going home to face his wife. That man came in here and asked to see me. I did not know him, I do not know why he came here and why he asked to see me other than that he said I had recently been elected and he saw my name.

It strikes me that the Betting (Amendment ) Bill 2013 is more about revenue raising than anything else. There is not one sinew of social care, social justice or social protection to be found in that Bill. I understand the purpose behind it and that when the amendment to the Bill was drafted, it was not possible to include it in it. The amendment put forward by Fianna Fáil today is the best I could possibly hope for in light of what I heard last week.

I wonder where the power is in this country behind gambling and why it is that we are afraid to confront this issue. When I turn on my television at night, I am invited to play bingo, roulette and every other game under the sun. I get constant messages through Facebook and Twitter inviting me to engage in some form of online gambling. Last week, Senator Mary Ann O'Brien told us about how she had registered simply to see how the system works and when she attempted to deregister from an online site, she got a plethora of e-mails and messages demanding to know why she wanted to leave it. We cannot afford to sit back and wait for the promised Bill. I cannot see a way that Bill will ever see the light of day in the life of this Government. The only way we can provide some form of protection is through this Bill. I commend Fianna Fáil on putting forward this amendment in light of the fact that my amendment was defeated last week.

I ask the Minister of State to consider two actions. The first is that he would genuinely consider including the Fianna Fáil amendment but, more importantly, I want the Department of Finance, given that it controls Revenue, to start getting Revenue to do the job it is paid to do. I want every gambling house and betting shop in this country raided. I want Revenue to go out and find the illegal machines that are in place. I understand there are gaming machines on which a VAT rate of 1% is paid when a rate of 23% should be paid on them. I want that to be examined. I do not have to walk more than two miles to where I can see a few hundred machines that are in use all day every day that no longer takes coins but take notes. This is outrageous.Last week, we heard the Leader of the House referring to children being brought to the tote. It was the first time in my life that I remembered that I was guilty of that myself. I brought my children to the Galway Races, gave them little £5 notes and told them to cast a bet. At the time I did not realise it was as lethal as handing them their first heroin shot, because it does the same damage. Gambling destroys lives.

In the Irish Independentlast weekend Mr. Liam Fay wrote about the political folly of the new Senator talking about trying to play nanny to the State with respect to gambling. Mr. Liam Fay obviously does not understand the damage-----