Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see the Minister of State here today and I thank him for coming in for this very important debate. We need to first address the elephant in the room, which is the obvious fact to all of us, hopefully, that politics has failed in respect of gambling. It is eight years since the gambling control Bill was first thought about. Over that time, I have seen colleagues from all parties, including the Leas-Chathaoirleach's in particular, highlighting the need to address this critical issue. The fact is that it has not been addressed. While I welcome the Minister of State’s commitment today and the plan that he has put in place, I have to question whether we really have to wait a further 20 months before we have a gambling regulator actually in force and working. The Minister of State alluded to the fact that a great amount of work has been done. If that work has been done, we should not then have to wait that long. This has been appalling.

I ask Members what has happened over the past eight years where politicians have failed to enact a gambling control Bill. What has happened is that gambling has become all-pervasive. It has literally reached into every aspect of our lives. When I drive home to Limerick this evening I will be bombarded with gambling advertising. When I sit down to watch Spurs on Sunday - please God we will win - I will be bombarded again with advertising. When I sit down with my teenage sons, we are bombarded with images of people who look just like them. The gambling industry wants us to believe that it is not just normal but that it is necessary to have a bet. Otherwise, one is not really going to enjoy the game.

This has not just been a benign eight years of failure where we have not gone one way or the other. We have allowed this multi-billion euro gambling industry to work away and to do what it likes. As someone alluded to in this Chamber not so long ago, eight years ago we might have seen gambling advertisements at night, now it is literally day and night, 24-7, on radio, television and online. I was concerned that there was just one mention of advertising in the Minister of State’s speech, in a reference to a regulation of advertising. We need to end advertising before the watershed time. We need that type of radical measure to fight back for families and for people because all of us - I know I am not unique in this - come across people whose lives have been ruined, and in some cases taken, by gambling. We have seen a failure of the State to regulate and to act. We need a severe change now.

I welcome a number of the comments that have been made as to what needs to be done. Of course, we need a gambling regulator. We have to end these incentives and free bets to sign up online with gambling companies. It is an absolutely disgraceful practice that needs to end. We also certainly need limits in betting.

Above all, we need the political will to make this happen but I worry. When the Minister of State responds, perhaps he might tell us honestly, although he has only had the job for the past year, what has been holding us back for these eight years?We know it is complex. So was nationalising the banks but we managed to do that in 24 hours. In eight years, we have not been able to deliver this. There is no end of statistics that demonstrate how much worse the problem is. There are estimates of 29,000 and, in one case, 40,000 people with gambling addiction problems. GambleAware tells us 1% of those addicts are getting the help and support they need. It is time for all of us to call out the industry. It has done nothing; it does the opposite. It takes people, exploits their addiction and insists its right to make money is more important than the rights, health and welfare of our people.

I can see there is a consensus across the Chamber about the urgency of this matter. I want to see a commitment from the Minister of State to fast-track this issue. We have had eight years of waiting already. If the Minister of State tells us it will be another two years, will that be in reality another three or four years? We need to make sure, above all, that it is not soft touch or light regulation, but real regulation to push back so we do not have gambling encroaching into our lives, particularly the lives of our younger people.