Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome. I compliment him on the work he has done and I compliment the Labour Party and Senator Wall on bringing this forward. Senator Wall is extremely passionate about this issue and has been over the past 18 months that I have been a Member of this House. We are just after the Cheltenham Festival and we saw all the pictures in the newspaper and the great results for Irish trainers who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup etc. However, we have to think that some houses and families are probably not happy because significant amounts of money were lost and possibly property, as was mentioned by Senator Wall. We have to take that into consideration.

I have a newsagent and a post office at home, as Members know, and I recall that when it comes to the Cheltenham Festival, the Galway Races and maybe the Grand National in Aintree, the newspapers come in and are lined up, and they all detail the free bets inside on the front page headline. I liken that to what drug dealers do. They give a free sample of a drug to try to get people hooked on it so they will stick with it for life and the dealers will make money. I like an occasional flutter and I would be a frequent visitor to Galway and Punchestown, where I will be going as part of a Longford GAA race day. When I was doing research on the Bill, it brought me back to the first time I went to the Galway Races with my late father and my brother back around 1980. I still remember the name of the horse, Pampered, which rode in at 7/1 and my brother and I won £35 on it. We held on to that money for years to come without spending it. It was a good memory but the reality is that gambling causes problems in a significant number of houses.

Research was done by the HSE that was published last week and it contained some startling details.Some 90,000 adults are low-risk gamblers, 35,000 adults are at moderate risk, and 12,000 adults are problem gamblers. Men are five times more likely than women to be at-risk or problem gamblers. It is more common in males aged 25 to 34. One in ten meet the criteria of at-risk or problem gambling. Problem gambling is associated with living in a deprived area and being unemployed. There is a marked correlation between problem gambling and substance abuse, whether it be drugs, alcohol or smoking. Some 13% of people with an alcohol use disorder are at-risk or problem gamblers compared with 2% of low-risk drinkers. They are quite startling figures.

Fine Gael will not oppose the Bill. In 2018, the Government set up an interdepartmental working group under Deputy David Stanton to look at regulating gambling. As part of our 2020 general election manifesto we said we would introduce an independent gambling regulator to ensure abuses are eradicated and public safety is protected. Along with our colleagues in the Green Party and Fianna Fáil, we in government have committed to establishing a gambling regulator focused on public safety and well-being, covering gambling online and in person, and with the powers to regulate gambling advertising, gambling websites and apps. That is very important in the current age in which we live. We have to look seriously at the situation where, through online gambling, a person could actually lose his or her house or entire savings just by using his or her phone. That is very important.

The Government has approved the gambling Bill for priority drafting and publication. The legislation will set out a framework and a legislative basis for the establishment of a new independent statutory body, the gambling regulatory authority of Ireland, to implement a robust regulatory and licensing regime for the gambling sector. Indeed, drafting on this Bill is under way. It will give the authority the necessary enforcement powers for licensing and enable it to take appropriate and focused action where providers fail to comply with provisions of this Bill and with the authority's licensing terms and conditions.

The key objectives of this authority are to ensure gambling is conducted in fair and open way for companies to make decisions in certainty; require safeguards to address problem gambling, including in relation to gambling advertising; and prevent gambling from being a source of or a support to crime. That is another very important point. I know from my home county that significant funds have been earned illegally by a certain number of criminal families from the sale of drugs etc, and they are using the gambling industry to launder this money. That is fact. That is happening in my own county town. I am delighted that addressing this forms part of the Bill.

Once again I compliment Senator Wall and the Labour Party on bringing forward this Bill. It is apt this is dealt with. The Minister of State has been proactive on this and I look forward to seeing legislation being implemented.