Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not gamble. It is not my thing. I took out an account with one of the online companies merely to watch St. Patrick's Athletic play Derry City in the League of Ireland. It says something that the rights to video recordings of the last season of League of Ireland games were sold to a betting company. There was obviously no other interest in the national soccer league. A betting site was the only place for me to see my local team play up in Derry. To see the match one had to place a bet. I put a euro on the game. St. Patrick's Athletic started to win the game, which was not to the plan of Bet 365 or whichever company it was, and so it was constantly engaging with me to get out now. I was fascinated by how one could become completely immersed in online gambling. That is about as far as my own personal experience goes, however.

On the points raised by Senators Norris and McDowell, I recently raised issues around licensing laws and the Give Us The Night campaign, which started in Dublin. Many people I knew at the time I left school went to the casinos which have been mentioned after the clubs, because clubs close at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. Would it not be better for us to have places where drink may not necessarily be on sale but where one could continue to dance or have a night out and whose opening hours are staggered rather than one's only option being a 24-hour casino where drink is also available?