Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator McGreehan, the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Members for giving me the opportunity to speak for a few minutes on this issue. Like Senator McGreehan, I acknowledge the cross-party contributions from across the House.We have a serious issue with gambling in this country. Boy, do I admire the passion shown by Senator Cassells here today. He is dead right.

A person came to me recently who said that a gambling thing had come up on their phone but they had nothing to do with gambling. That is another issue, although I will not mention the companies. This thing flashes up in front of people when they might have nothing to do with gambling. This sort of interference on social media must be dealt with.

When I was a Member of the Dáil, I dealt with the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, in respect of addiction issues. He has been very good and he is a man who takes his responsibility extremely seriously. I have to acknowledge that the former Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, was very committed to this as well. I have no doubt that the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, will do it. I back Senator Cassells in saying to the Minister of State to take on these boyos.

I want to give one interpretation of the way people respond at times. It is taken from a personal situation. By the way, I sometimes put on a small bet of €2 each way, and I might put a bet on today and then leave it for six months. I do not want to stop people who can handle betting from doing it. That is fine. Those small race meetings in places like Roscommon are very good. I want to give the example of something that happened a couple of years back when I was talking to a certain person I know, although I will not mention names. He said to me that such-and-such a lady had gone in because she had an addiction. I said I knew about that and I asked could we do anything for the young family. He said we would wait and see. I said I never knew that she was an alcoholic. However, she was not. She was a gambler and she gambled every penny. That man and those kids suffered and suffered, as do many families. It is simply not right to see that going on in our society.

We see these super advertisements and the Minister of State also referred to those on television, where we see a race and then we see that the programme is sponsored by such a company. I would tighten up on those companies because they are using and exploiting people. It is an addiction we have to handle. We have to be serious about it and we have to tighten up on it, there is no doubt about that. This debate is very important. With respect, I say to the Minister of State to take this legislation forward as quickly as possible and to stop this epidemic. We have to try to help people out there who are in a desperate situation. As Senator McGreehan said, a lot of it is silent and people do not know about it. Even families do not know about it until someone comes knocking on the door and says that €10,000 is owed somewhere, which causes shock, horror and absolute outrage. Children suffer dreadfully because of this.