I thank the Deputy for his question. The original plan was to ban them altogether. We then had to make some exceptions for locations such as horse racing tracks, where people may take out money to buy food or whatever the case may be. If people want to have a machine on the premises, they will need to make a separate application to the authority. The authority will then take everything into consideration. I certainly do not expect to see banklink machines - I am showing my age by calling them banklink machines - in…

The Attorney General has advised that we could not ban them for specific locations and nowhere else. That would be open to challenge. We had to take that into consideration. As I have said, I certainly do not want to see them in bookies' offices, casinos or anywhere like that. I have no difficulty with them being on racetracks or greyhound tracks, provided they are not in the betting area, so that people can take out money to buy food or whatever the case may be. People have argued either way with regard to bingo. …

I propose to take amendments Nos. 115 to 120, inclusive, together. Amendments Nos. 115 to 118, inclusive, provide that, when assessing whether a premises is suitable to provide gambling activities from, the authority must consult with the relevant local fire safety authority where the premises is situated and must inspect the premises before making a determination in respect of a gambling licence. It also provided for a reciprocal requirement for local authorities to engage with the authority. Amendments Nos. 119 a…

These amendments are both technical. Amendment No. 121 corrected cross-references in section 97 while amendment No. 122 removed redundant language from this section.

Amendments Nos. 140 to 142, inclusive, clarified the application process and criteria for holding a once-off lottery in a calendar year. Amendment No. 143 exempted certain premises from assessment by the authority. Amendments Nos. 144 to 153, inclusive, provided for the ability of the authority to issue or renew an in-person gambling licence, having assessed a premises, the details relating to gambling activities and premises, and any additional conditions specified by the authority to be included in a licence, and…

Amendments Nos. 154 to 156, inclusive, clarify the application process and criteria for holding a once-off lottery. Amendments Nos. 157, 158, 161, 162, 163, 166 and 167 are all technical amendments. Amendments Nos. 159 and 164 provide for the ability of the authority to determine how gambling activities may be provided by a licensee, where they may be provided from and if children are permitted to act on behalf of the licensee, for example, if members or children may sell tickets on behalf of a school, club or soci…

Regarding premises, we are satisfied that it will allow for selling tickets around the pitch. In fairness, Deputy Doherty captured that problem in the original Bill. Deputy McGrath has called me obstinate and said that I have not accepted anything raised by other Deputies, but when Deputy Doherty spotted that we made the necessary change to address it. Regarding multiple licences, the authority has discretion to set the form and manner of the application and the licensee can apply to vary a licence if absolutely ne…

The Interpretation Acts provide that reference to the singular also covers the plural. Therefore, "payment" and "payments" mean the same thing within the legislation. It is the same with "licence" and "licences". The bingo sector has raised that consistently over recent months and we have sought to clarify it for that sector as well. The singular meaning plural and plural meaning singular cover the payments and also cover the bingo sector with its licences and bingo cards as well.

Amendments Nos. 174, 178 and 179 are technical amendments. Amendments Nos. 175 and 176 cover specified changes in licensees' information that must be notified to the authority. Amendment No. 177 provides that a commercial licence is granted subject to compliance with certain conditions. Amendment No. 178 provides that the requirement to hold segregated customer accounts applies to both online and in-person participants. Importantly, amendment No. 180 ensures that no participant, including the licensee, will have an…

Amendments Nos. 183 to 188, inclusive, are drafting changes recommended by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to make this section clearer and linguistically accurate. Similarly amendments Nos. 191, 192 and 194 are technical in nature.

Amendment No. 196 is technical in nature and deletes a section in the Bill as passed by the Dáil to facilitate its reinsertion in section 228 as inserted on Committee Stage in the Seanad alongside other consequential amendments to other legislation.

As I said earlier, we are satisfied that they cannot advertise either the licensee or the activity, and that will cover most circumstances. In addition to that, the authority has the power to make regulations relating to advertising in addition to explicit dedicated sections in respect of gambling advertising. If people are in a situation where they have consented to something, they will always be able to withdraw that consent at any time.

I hear the Deputy's concerns and I understand those concerns are very much genuine. Even if the Deputy is correct, which we do not necessarily accept, the authority does have significant regulatory powers to make regulations to control advertising. That amendment was one of the key amendments we brought in through this legislation. There is that fallback position where the authority, acting on its duties under this legislation, can make further regulations to restrict the types of advertising being provided.

I will discuss amendments Nos. 200 and 201 together. These clarify that it shall be an offence to offer a targeted inducement to a person or a specific group of people and that offers or promotions to the public must comply with any regulations made under this section. Such regulations may impose conditions, including restrictions on the manner in which an offer is conveyed to the public and restrictions on the type of offers that may be offered to the public and may also prohibit certain offers being made, taking …

Amendment No. 211 is a restatement and tweaking of the section dealing with privileged legal material. Amendment No. 212 inserted a new section into the Bill to provide that the authorised officer of the authority may request copies of records and information from certain officials under other Acts where the information or records are needed in the performance of their duties and a subsequent power to process any information received. Amendment No. 214 is a consequential amendment recommended by the Office of the P…

To state the obvious, we intend to enact it as quickly as possible. As the Deputy pointed out, we have a CEO designate for the gambling regularly authority of Ireland and significant money has been spent on setting it up. It would become quite embarrassing quite quickly, quite frankly, if the Bill was not commenced as quickly as possible. I cannot give specific deadlines or dates, but I can assure the Deputy the Bill will not be left sitting on a shelf. The CEO designate, Ms Anne Marie Caulfield, is very anxious th…

I can assure the Deputy that this regulatory authority will not be toothless or fruitless. It will be a very powerful regulatory authority. It will regulate an industry that we estimate is worth €6 billion. We are not sure of the figure, because, unfortunately, we do not have proper regulation in this area, and that is what we are addressing in the Bill. The regulatory authority will be funded by the industry, by way of levies. The impact on the taxpayer once it is up and running should be zero. It will not require…

On the enforcement side, in the Bill we have tied almost everything to the licence. If someone is in breach of advertising regulations, they can lose their licence as well as face serious fines, etc. Even if we commenced the provisions relating to advertising next week, that will not be relevant until licences are issued. There is an element of all duck and no dinner, to a certain degree. The approach means the Bill will be far more robust in its enforcement mechanism. I will start commencing the relevant sections …

Amendment No. 270 amends Schedule 2 to the Bill to specify that a person may purchase a ticket or book of tickets to participate in bingo and sets the maximum price for these.

A significant amount of work has gone into this legislation. I want to thank my officials, including the team working on it at the moment and the previous members of the team. An extraordinary amount of work has gone into what is an extremely complex legislation which not only regulates a massive industry that has largely gone unregulated, but deals with the public health perspective and ensures the relevant sections are there to protect the public and design the legislation in such a way as to ensure there is stro…