Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This debate has shown that we are failing to get to grips with this issue. From my experience, this is especially true in respect of young men. The State has the third highest gambling losses per adult in the world and we have no dedicated gambling addiction treatment service. Gambling companies profiting from Irish users do not care about or respond to those who have shown by their online behaviour that they have an issue with problem gambling. Their business model is to maximise profits.

The levels of gambling company sponsorship not only in the League of Ireland and the Irish league in the North, but in the Premier League are just huge. It is to be seen on the jerseys, on the hoarding on the sides of the pitch, and during the advertising breaks. Newstalk now have a section during half-time where the presenters will not necessarily reflect on the game but analyse the betting side of it. Gambling companies invest massive amounts of money in targeting those who watch sport. The level of advertising budgets at their disposal is extremely worrying.

Just as alcohol companies have Drinkaware, gambling companies have their own support service; Gamble Aware. Its logo appears on advertising. Aaron Rogan of the The Times, Ireland edition uncovered that Gamble Aware's helpline was left entirely unmanned during games at the World Cup last summer. Its voicemail was full so it could not refer callers to another service. When asked for comment, the director of Gamble Aware said that the funding from the industry had dried up. He stated "It's a volunteer service, it is what it is." If that is not lipservice, I do not know what is. The website gambleaware.ie is no longer active. Despite the fact that gambling companies are still giving the impression that Gamble Aware is active and that they are doing their bit to help problem gamblers, they are fully aware they have underfunded the service to the point that the website is non-operational.

Furthermore, Aaron Rogan reported last month that Paddy Power and Betfair have been paying customers to sign confidentiality agreements and to drop complaints they have made to the Data Protection Commissioner or to the British gambling regulator. The Data Protection Commissioner is currently investigating that matter. It is another in a long line of behaviours by the gambling companies that disregard the rights of users to interact safely with these businesses. The British gambling regulator is also investigating the same matter but the difference is that Irish users will not have recourse, whereas British users will. This is due to Government's failure to effectively regulate gambling or to implement the gambling control Bill 2013, the heads of which have been with the Minister of State's Department for almost six years.It has been established fairly that the gambling industry has not shown itself to be capable or responsible enough to regulate itself. The case has been made that the State needs to regulate and I do not believe anyone in this Chamber, including the Minister, disagrees.

The health-led response to problem gambling is not good enough. The response to a parliamentary question received by Deputy Louise O’Reilly from the HSE showed that in the past three years some 800 people had been treated for a gambling addiction. Aside from the motion, the HSE and the Department of Health must own up to their responsibilities. The Institute of Public Health in Ireland has shown that the health and social costs of problem gambling exceed the Government revenue gained from the gambling tax and businesses. Perhaps the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, might consider making the increased revenue from the changes to the betting tax in budget 2019 available to the HSE for the purpose of providing gambling addiction treatment.

I commend the members of the inter-departmental working group on gambling. I hope publication of the group's report will result in a quick turnaround in bringing the Gambling Control Bill 2013 before the Houses this year. We are paying too high a price for being inactive in dealing with this matter.