David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank colleagues for their observations and I look froward to further discussion on the legislation. The Bill I have proposed will have the effect of modernising and clarifying the provisions of the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956. As Senator Conway-Walsh said, it is time to update this outdated law. Of that there is no doubt.

Everyone commented, and rightly so, on the reason we are not bringing forward the gambling control Bill now. It would be my dearest wish to bring it forward if I could, but I call tell colleagues it is extraordinarily complicated. We have spent the past year intensely studying this area and working on it with an interdepartmental group. We have published a report for everyone's information in order that people can reflect on it. We will have further consultation with the sector on this area shortly. We are consulting widely on it, but it is extraordinarily complicated and we want to get it right.

Setting up an office in the Department of Justice and Equality to regulate an operation which, nationally, could be worth anything between €6 billion and €8 billion per annum was not the way to go. It must be independent. To answer Senator Conway-Walsh's question, the intention is to set up a regulator completely independent of Government, with the usual caveats with respect to reporting to the Oireachtas and acting under the law. It must be robust. This is what they have done in other jurisdictions where it is independent, robust and properly resourced and established from day one. That is what we want to do. Unfortunately, that is not easy. It is a big operation. We have to put in place not only complex legislation but also a regulator to do the inspections, the enforcing, the advising and all that goes with that. As colleagues said, this area is expanding into the online sector in a big way, so it is getting more complex than it was and it is even more complex than it was in 2013 when we examined it at that time. The heads of a Bill were published then, not a Bill, as Senator Craughwell said. As colleagues will be aware, there is a big difference between publishing the heads of a Bill and drafting and bringing forward legislation, especially in the case of a Bill as complex as this one.

This legislation is an interim reform measure. The Government has agreed the plan for a comprehensive reform of our gambling, licensing and regulatory system. The Government has seen, debated and accepted the report. My Department is working to bring forward revised modern legislation to address comprehensively the deficiencies in our current gambling, licensing and regulatory infrastructure.

Everyone is rightly concerned about problem gambling. Senator Norris, who is leaving us now, spoke about it as a disease. That is probably close to the mark in one way, but it is also an illness, a sickness or an addiction in some sense, which is a health issue. In every country where they have robust regulation they still have the issue, as Senator Norris pointed out, of the problem gambler to a greater or lesser extent, as we have here. Therefore, it is a health issue. In the heads of the 2013 Bill, in the legislation we will be bringing forward and in the gambling control report, the idea was mentioned of setting up a fund to assist the treatment of, support for and provision of help for people with this problem of gambling addiction. We can go so far with regulation, but at the end of the day this is an addiction and it needs to be looked at as a health issue.