The long-delayed gambling bill is planned to be passed in the coming weeks but may be affected if a general election is called, the junior justice minister has conceded.
At his department’s post-budget briefing, James Browne said that the bill would finish in the Seanad next week, but would need to come back to the Dáil due to Seanad amendments. He said that he was “confident” the bill would pass within three weeks.
However, Mr Browne accepted that his timeframe around the bill may be superceded by the calling of a general election, which would see the bill kicked to the next Dáil, despite having come to the chamber in December 2022.
“Whether or not this would be enough time or not, is something I’m not over,” he added.
Under Ireland’s proposed laws, once a person opts out of gambling, it will be an offence for a gambling company to allow that person to gamble, accept payment from that person for gambling, or communicate with that person in a way that encourages or promotes gambling.
Work is also underway to identify technological solutions that would allow the register to operate.
Under the legislation, gambling companies that breach the law could face substantial fines of up to €20m or 10% of their turnover.
Speaking to The last week, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that he would be “very upset” if the law is not passed in the lifetime of this government.
And that’s why I think James Browne deserves a lot of credit for bringing in the gambling legislation, and he’s kept with it, and I hope we get it through now before [the end of the Dáil].
“We have to make sure that happens.”
Speaking at the departmental briefing, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said that the hiring of 400 additional staff in the International Protection Office (IPO) would help to tackle backlogs in applications, increasing the number of applications handled yearly from 14,000 to 25,000.
She said that the IPO will be able to “start dealing with the significant backlogs that are there while at the same time responding to an ever increasing number”.
Ms McEntee said that the IPO is “reducing the backlogs and dealing with an increase in the number of applications overall”.