THE PUBLICATION of a Department of Justice paper on the regulation of the gambling industry has been strongly welcomed by Independent TD Michael Lowry but criticised by Labour spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte.
Minister for Justice and Law Reform Dermot Ahern announced yesterday that he had obtained Government approval to publish Options for Regulating Gambling, which is available on the department's website at justice.ie.
The Minister said: “Our existing laws regulating gambling are not fit for purpose in this age of mass global communications. I am publishing these options so as to provide choices to be made to properly regulate the gambling landscape.
“Today’s initiative is, therefore, a major step on the road towards developing a new, fully regulated environment for the sector, reflecting 21st-century thinking in this area of complex public policy.
“It is my wish that gambling regulation should be brought into the 21st century, and that means: improved protection for minors and vulnerable adults, more transparent operations by gambling providers, and more effective measures against fraud and illegal gambling and criminality.”
Mr Rabbitte said the paper was “a ham-fisted report without direction of conclusions, for a sector that has been awaiting regulation for a very long time.”
He rejected a claim by Mr Ahern in a radio interview that an all-party committee on the subject failed to get off the ground because the Opposition parties “got cold feet”.
“Labour was never invited to join an all-party committee on this subject,” Mr Rabbitte said.
Welcoming the document, Mr Lowry said: “I am very pleased that they published the report and pleased also with the options contained within it”.
He particularly welcomed the section in the report on the licensing of casinos: “It sets out a framework that is realistic and achievable.
“Legislation in this area will be complex. I am aware the department have done a lot of background work already and I will be hoping that we can make further progress in the time ahead.”
Mr Lowry stood by his denial earlier this month that approval of a project to establish a “super-casino” at Two-Mile Borris in his constituency was a critical issue in securing his support for the Budget introduced on December 7th.
He reiterated yesterday that this was “not a demand that I made” and that he had “not used it as a bargaining tool”.
The project would create jobs in the area but it had not been a “deal-breaker”.
