Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----I hope the ladies rock on and have a great day.

This morning, however, I wish to speak briefly about Paddy Power Betfair, who reported profits yesterday of €1.5 billion. Of those profits, €853 million come from their online gambling outlets. We have been talking about a gambling Bill in this House for some time. I wonder how many children went without their dinner in order that Paddy Power could make €1.5 billion, and how many households suffered in order that the Paddy Powers of this world could make such profits. Gambling is the secret addiction that nobody knows about until all hell breaks loose. A man came to me almost three years ago to tell me he had lost €80,000 and was going home to tell his wife that day. He used to wake up in the middle of the night and take out his iPhone in order to bet on ridiculous things. We heard the story in the audiovisual room not so long ago about the postmaster who gambled €10.9 million of the post office's money - not his own - and went to jail for it.

While Paddy Power can make his profit, I know the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, and the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald are anxious to do something on this issue. There are major problems with technology moving faster than legislation. I ask the Leader to convey a request to the Minister that when we bring the gambling Bill into the House, it should be flexible enough to allow for ministerial orders to meet these challenges. Gambling is destroying lives. It was gambling of one sort or another that led to the collapse of the economy. Can we please try to bring the gambling Bill in as quickly as possible? It is absolutely disgusting to see this amount of money made in profits from gambling.