Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is the second time I have spoken on this Bill. I hate to disagree with Senator McDowell but I think it is good legislation. When I read it, I thought it was a step forward. The major changes in legislation in this area have not been taken into consideration in the past 20, 30 or 40 years, and we are bringing forward legislation that will change matters for the better. This entire world has moved quickly and I am deeply concerned about where it is going. The issue I raise relates to digital adverts, how that will tie into this legislation and where that will, I hope, be restricted. When platforms run adverts focused on online gambling that could affect kids or teenagers are coming on platforms very early in the morning, it is about how we can look at controlling that.

Last Monday morning, I was taking my four kids to school. We have Spotify in the car, so they can pick a song and away we go. When they picked a song, an advert for a bookmaker popped up, at 8.30 a.m. We had to spend 30 seconds listening to that. Spotify and all the other platforms need to be regulated and we have to make sure the adverts they run, which I think are often directed towards kids and teenagers, need to be monitored and looked at. I am the father of four kids who are all in school, and my eight-year-old was asking me what the advert was about. That is not good enough. We need to see how we can change the profile of how the gambling regime affects us in everything we do and in every walk of life. The world has changed so quickly and it is not about going to the bookie's any more. Nobody goes to the bookie's or gambling casinos any more. They can just use a phone. We need to see how we can restrict the advertising levels. The fact these platforms, including music platforms such as Spotify, can do what they are doing is sinful. I have looked into it. It is not reflected in their policies that gambling is dangerous, but it fundamentally is.

Will this legislation, which is so important to our society, step into that arena? Will it make sure that when I take my kids to school once this legislation is passed, they will not have to listen to a Paddy Power advert on Spotify? It is not good enough. We need to make sure something is done to protect our youth in society, and what is there at the moment is not good enough.