Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----or to anything else. They are permitted in amusement arcades in places like Bray, Bundoran and the like because they were seen to be part of a culture of holiday entertainment. That is the business of those local authorities, but it is scandalous that it will now be open season for gaming machines in Dublin city. The experience of the British, particularly in respect of fixed-odds betting terminals, is that these machines visit total misery on people who become addicted to them. I see that a maximum bet of €10 on any occasion is proposed in the Bill. This is wrong. It will be a tax on the poor, the addicted and the vulnerable. It will be an expropriation of their money to enrich people who add nothing to the sum total of human happiness. I say that today in advance of any Second Stage consideration of this Bill, to which I am wholly opposed. It is a step in the wrong direction. For a Government that talks about local government reform to strip local government of this particular power is wholly wrong. Surely it should be up to the people of Killarney whether their town has gaming machines and amusement halls. It should be up to the people of Tralee to make the same kinds of decisions about their area. We are now going down the road of taking that power away from local authorities, which is wholly wrong.

The second issue I raise is that, as we conduct our affairs today, a general election is under way in Israel. In an effort to obtain the maximum number of seats, the Netanyahu administration - I would call it a regime - has pledged to annex Palestinian settlements and make them part of Israel's sovereign territory.Our Government was supine on the subject of the settlement goods legislation. This House showed some bravery on the subject. Contrived reasons about the imposition of charges on the Exchequer and the need for money messages were used to obstruct that legislation from going through Dáil Éireann. If we are going to be trampled all over in asserting our parliamentary view that the Israeli Government should not be permitted to extend its sovereignty over Palestinian territory and make what is de factode jurewith the assistance of the Trump regime in Washington, we need to start talking openly and candidly now. I have always believed in the right of Israel to exist. I am not afraid to say that my opposition to this pledge cannot be legitimately described as anti-Semitic in any way. It is not anti-Semitic, but is simply pro the human rights of everybody in the area, particularly the Palestinian people.