Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank my Labour Party colleagues for agreeing to this Private Members' business. I also thank the Leader for facilitating this debate, given the changes over the past two weeks. It is very much appreciated. I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, to the House. I put on record once again my thanks to him for his leadership and commitment on this public health issue in bringing forward long overdue legislation in this area, which we look forward to debating in the coming weeks. However, tonight I have tabled our Bill, the Gambling (Prohibition of Advertising) Bill 2021. I sincerely hope that the Minister of State can support it and its quickest possible passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The Labour Party Bill is attempting to break the continuing attempts of gambling companies to normalise sport and gambling. These companies have quite successfully associated the need to gamble, not just in mainstream sports, but in practically every sporting event that takes place. However, this is not just confined to sporting events, as we all know. We would like to see people being able to go back to enjoying sport without having a tsunami of gambling advertisements coming at them through visual and print media before, during and after these events.

Gambling companies portray gambling as a great social outlet that people are simply missing out on if they are not having a bet on the sporting occasion that they are watching. You are not being part of the gang if you are not having a bet. The reality, of course, as many who have developed an addiction will say, is betting on their phone alone, without the knowledge of their loved ones or those friends the gambling companies portray in their advertisements. At the moment, there is no watershed on gambling advertising in Ireland. During the pandemic, we have heard so many stories of parents having to explain to children as young as six and seven, who they were homeschooling at the time, what gambling was all about. No child as young as this should be exposed to such advertising. It is simply not good enough.

One of the most frightening findings of a recent Health Research Board, HRB, report, was that 20% of young men aged 15 to 24 who have gambled in the past year are either problem gamblers or are at risk of developing an addiction. The report’s authors state that they may have underestimated this group. The same report identified 12,000 people in the country with a severe addiction and more than 130,000 who are at some of risk of developing a problem. Other reports suggest that 40,000 people in this country have an addiction. That, of course, is one of the problems, as I am sure the Minister of State is aware. The lack of comprehensive reporting on this problem is an issue that needs to be addressed. We have for too long relied on comparing research and reports from the UK and from the rest of the world in trying to estimate the problem here and where we might offer our supports.

Whatever the true figure, this is a growing problem and I think we can all agree on that. It is wrong to not have restrictions on when gambling advertisements can take place, as well as the number of them. We hope that that can be addressed through this legislation.

One of these reports from 2019 noted that Irish people could be spending as much as €9.8 billion per year, marking us out as the seventh biggest spenders on gambling per capita, with almost €380 for every man, woman and child in this country. We in the Labour Party carried out our own survey on gambling in which 80% of respondents reported seeing an increase in the number of gambling advertisements they saw. More worrying was the almost 65% who said they were more inclined to gamble after seeing these advertisements. This is a figure that will please the gambling companies but that will set off serious alarm bells here and for our health system.

From the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland to gambling addiction support advocates such as Oisín McConville, Niall McNamee and Davy Glennon, to gambling addiction supporting organisations, such as Extern Problem Gambling and, Cuan Mhuire, among many other fine support groups, there has been one consistent recent message: we must get rid of the number of gambling advertisements in this country, which is without a doubt adding to this public health problem.Indeed, our own President Michael D. Higgins hit out recently at what he described as "'dangerous'" gambling advertisements, which he said were causing "so much damage to families and ... individuals". The President went on to say that his "heart had been 'broken' regularly during the pandemic as he saw advertisement after advertisement for gambling apps during sports programmes accompanied by ... [what he described as] 'totally minimal, tokenistic invitations to be responsible.'" He was quoted as saying it was "not good enough." That is the problem - minimal and tokenistic invitations to be responsible. This was our President getting it right once again.

Some of the gambling companies have come together to set up their own code of practice. I, for one, welcome any attempt to address this problem. Despite these efforts, some of the bigger gambling companies have not signed up to their own self-regulated code of practice. Indeed, it led to some of the gambling companies at the recent Joint Committee on Justice pre-legislative scrutiny meeting calling for and supporting a gambling regulator, which I hope the Minister of State's legislation will provide for in the next year.

Our legislation can bring forward regulation and put in place a summer of sport and enjoyment rather than a summer of misery for a growing number of our population. Over the past two years since we started to look at this possible legislation, I have been contacted by many people. They wanted to share their heartbreaking stories of losing family homes, relationships and families. Many described how they had lost their jobs, and, most unfortunately, there were stories of lives ending because of an addiction that people could simply no longer live with. It is also important to relay the real-life experience of living with gambling addiction and how it affects the person, their families and communities. I know many in this House will have experienced such stories in their clinics and when meeting their constituents. I would like to outline two such cases.

The first is a young man who came to me recently for help with housing. He had recently split from his partner and was now living apart from her and his three children. It was only after a number of meetings that this man felt secure enough to tell me his full story. He was working to gamble and using every opportunity to use the gambling app on his phone without the knowledge of his partner. It was only when the bills mounted up that she became aware of the problem. He has now handed over control of his bank account to a family member. He is so insecure in his inability to stop his habit, he has begun to see an addiction counsellor. He wants to build his life again.

The second example is an update on a young lady I spoke about in the House last year. This young lady started gambling following a visit to her local pub. She described wanting to join in the fun and she placed her first bet. She described how when her next pay day arrived, she thought the smart choice would be to take out her wages and double them so that she could pay back the money she owed. This did not happen, however. The following years of her life would become a vicious cycle of self-destructive behaviour that would eventually lead to hospitalisation. She stated that she felt like dying and wanted the doctors to tell her what terrible physical disease was causing these issues rather than truly admitting to herself that her suffering was a result of her addiction. This young woman became a mother of two young children and although she at times felt her children would be better off without her, she eventually made a decision to seek help. She continued to deal with the stigma and shame that our society puts on those suffering with gambling addiction, especially, as she said herself, the stigma of a woman and mother with this addiction. Thankfully, one year on, this young woman stated that she had a great year. She has set up her own business helping those with gambling addiction and will shortly take part in an international conference on gambling research. She has asked me to contribute the following to this debate, however, and I do so now on her behalf:

The responsible gambling measures poured out by the gambling industry are nothing more than a tick-box exercise. These ads fail to inform customers of the highly addictive nature of the products they sell. They place all the blame on the individual and there is no mention of that fact that those who suffer from gambling addiction are three times more likely to take their own lives than any other addiction. People are not being educated about the products being sold to them and lives are being lost while the gambling industry thrives. This is unacceptable and needs to change now.

The Labour Party is not against gambling. Many people in this country can control what they spend when they gamble. However, we feel the evidence is building that there are a number of citizens who cannot control their gambling addiction or are at risk of developing a further addiction. This is why we have put forward this Bill and join a growing conversation seeking help and legislation for many. Frankly, we can all accept that it has taken way too long to get to this stage. We now need to enact this Bill. We must stop the bombardment of gambling advertisements. As I said previously, it is way beyond time that we are all allowed to enjoy sport once again without this forced normalisation of sport and gambling.

We look forward to the legislation the Minister of State will bring forward. We thank him once again for his work and dedication on it. We will actively take part in its assessment and passage through the Oireachtas. We feel the Government must act now, however. This Bill gives Government the mechanism to give us all the opportunity to take a breath and give us all back the ability to once again enjoy that match, race or game without feeling the need to dip into our pockets for money that many simply do not have. The time for talking has long passed. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply and to assisting those who have reached out to me and other Labour Party colleagues. I am hopeful the legislation we have brought forward can help and change their lives.