Unfortunately, I cannot accept the amendments. The provision the Senator seeks to remove is now standard provision used across the Statute Book and to do so would undermine the fundamental principles underpinning the operation of Government and could compromise the ability of the authority to operate within its independence.

I thank the Deputy for his very important question about the number of scramblers that have been seized. As the Deputy will know, the law changed in this regard to allow scramblers to be seized. A sum of €190,000 was allocated to assist approved projects in 2022 and 2023 and almost €149,000 has been allocated for 2024 to help seize scramblers. The total number of scramblers seized to date across all Garda divisions is 119. The law came into effect in November 2023.

I cannot accept the Senator's amendments as I believe the matter they seek to address is already dealt with in the Bill. I refer to amendment No. 63. Section 31 provides that the authority "may undertake, commission or collaborate with research projects in relation to gambling or gambling activities", including in relation to gambling addiction. In addition, the other activities specified in this section are not exhaustive and would not preclude the authority from engaging in research relating to the harms associat…

I am very aware of the human consequences of gambling addiction. I have highlighted that myself consistently. That is why we have drafted a 220-section Bill, one of the biggest to come through the Houses in the lifetime of the Government. I am very aware of the impact, and this legislation comes from a public health perspective. We are not accepting the amendments because we say they are not necessary as what they seek to do is covered within the legislation. As I said, the Government and I and, I think, all Senato…

Unfortunately, I cannot accept amendment No. 68 as the matters it raises are already addressed in the Bill. Section 31 provides the authority may undertake, commission or collaborate with research projects related to gambling or gambling activities. The list provided in this section is not exhaustive and would not preclude the authority from engaging in research relating to any other matters it felt were necessary or appropriate. Furthermore, it is a key tenet of the authority to address unlicensed gambling and ens…

Regarding amendment No. 70, the Bill provides in section 64 for an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act 2014. The intention is that the authority members, its staff, authorised officers, the appeals panel, appeals board, appeals officer and adjudication officer would be subject to obligations under the Freedom of Information Act concerning their respective functions insofar as the information relates to records and general administration. This means that records relating to matters to do with the administrat…

The agency would have significant investigative and prosecutorial powers. Documents gathered for those purposes will not be subject to an FOI because they will be necessary in the investigation and prosecution of a licenceholder, for example. It would also undermine the tenets of any prosecution if documents seized during a prosecution or investigation were released to the public. That would be standard, for example, in any Garda or HSE investigation. The FOI is as wide as we believe it can be without hindering inv…

Amendment No. 72 seeks to insert the Health Service Executive into section 34 as one of the listed bodies. Is that correct?

I am not in a position to accept the amendment at the moment but I will take it under further consideration.

It is a very good question and the Senator is correct. We are deleting section 43 and re-inserting the definition of "relevant date", which is referred to throughout the Bill. As the Senator correctly pointed out, the other definitions are also so I will get further clarity for him on that.

With regard to inducements, the Bill is drafted in such a way that they cannot be targeted. We had an alternative position at the start when we were drafting this Bill of trying to cover everything, which we could not do. It became impossible so we flipped to a position where an inducement cannot be offered unless it can be offered to everybody and that people can walk in off the street and get whatever the case may be. It stops any targeting of inducements whatsoever but allows companies to continue to provide gen…

Yes. I will be bringing in a range of amendments to the provisions relating to the operation of the national gambling exclusion register which have the same effect as the Senator's amendment.

I cannot accept amendment No. 97 as I am satisfied that sections 50 (1) (a) and 50 (1) (b) of the Bill already address this issue. As the Senators are aware, a key purpose of the social impact fund will be to support the provision of public education and awareness-raising measures for the purposes of highlighting the social impact of compulsive or excessive gambling. I fully expect that the issues raised by the Senators will be highlighted by the new gambling regulatory authority. There is nothing to stop it from d…

Given the alternative debt resolution procedures that have been introduced, including, for example, personal insolvency arrangements, we are widening the information required from licence applicants to include any other arrangements or compositions with creditors. That is provided for in amendment No. 101. On advice from the Office of the Attorney General, it was considered that the provision as initially drafted was too broad. Amendments Nos. 102 to 104, inclusive, and amendment No. 106 narrow its scope and applic…

As I said, we are satisfied that section 50 sufficiently addresses the issues raised by the Senator in this amendment. The issue is already covered.

These are all technical amendments. I will not refer to them unless anybody seeks clarification.

The purpose of the Senator's amendments is effectively to ban betting on the national lottery. I certainly appreciate the Senator's position that this betting potentially takes away from the money distributed to good causes supported by the lottery. We cannot say with certainty that prohibiting betting or similar activities with respect to the national lottery would mean those who bet on it would automatically switch to purchasing national lottery products instead. I accept there is anecdotal evidence to that effec…

My understanding is that the general election will not be called for another five months so-----

There will be plenty of time to get the Bill through.

I can certainly bring it to the attention of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform but it does not come under the Department of Justice. That has been made clear to me by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform on several occasions. There is where it resides. I can bring it to the attention of the Minister but I cannot undertake to seek Government approval.