James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief as I have made many of my arguments. We just spent almost an hour and half talking about physical premises and what are one-armed bandits in physical premises. The casinos are in every bedroom in the country. Every ten- or 12-year old who has a phone has a casino in his or her house. That is what we are trying to address here. There is this idea that there are all these big money people who want to open up physical casinos on every estate in the country. The people with big money are putting it into online gambling and the proliferation of gambling right across the country. That is why this legislation is so important. It is not promoting or enabling gambling, as Sinn Féin is trying to promote. They voted down this legislation in the Dáil. We would not even be here discussing this legislation without them. If Sinn Féin had its way, the wild west situation would continue. It was an extraordinary position to take.

I have made my arguments on this. Continuing to discuss the dangers of bricks-and-mortar casinos in this country is absolutely quaint. We have to get to grips with problem gambling in this country. It is on every phone in every house right across the country. We talk about the people in my home town. That casino, or whatever you want to call it, went out of business within a couple of months because nobody was going down to a physical premises to gamble. They were doing it on their phones. That is where they are doing it in every bloody house in my home town and right across the country. That is what we are addressing here. This legislation will get control of gambling in this country.