This idea of a gaming board has been floated to me on a number of occasions, not just within the last couple of months since this matter has come up as a major item for discussion but in the last couple of years and indeed during my previous term as Minister for Justice. The idea of a gaming board has been put to me by those who are involved in gambling activities and those who are involved in the trade, if I might use that word. I have not accepted that principle and I still do not accept it. That is my personal view but it would be a matter for the Government to decide. Certainly, having examined the matter not in an indepth fashion but from my knowledge of gambling boards in other jurisdictions, I do not think they have been the success that people make them out to be. The buck should stop on the desk of the Minister for Justice of the day, whether it be the Deputy himself or anybody else, who has answerability to this Parliament in such areas. I am open to be convinced that the gambling laws need to be strengthened. If I get that recommendation from the Garda Síochána whose function it is to enforce the law and if they feel the law as it is framed is not helpful to them, then I will very gladly do something about it.
I have discussed this matter in great detail, even as late as last Friday, with Commissioner Crowley, with the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Dublin Metropolitan Area, and also with some legal advisers who say that the matter is being actively considered with a view to preventing illegal gambling taking place. Part of the problem is that quite a number of the allegations that have been made have not stood up when investigated. I am not taking away from what any Deputy says in this House or from any newspaper or television programme that gives voice to allegations of this sort. An allegation is one thing but having evidence to present the case to the court is another, I am advised that in some instances a lot of the machines that we are talking about in these centres are not gaming machines as such but are amusement machines — I am investigating that further — and that they are highly sophisticated machines that may not be readily classified as gambling machines. That is part of the problem. Another part of the problem, having regard to some of the allegations that have been made and investigated, is that we can get nobody to give evidence on them.
I am giving this detail to, for once and for all, put to bed the insinuations that the Garda are not actively looking at this particular area. That would be a very false and misleading suggestion to make, even if their station is only around the corner from the Talbot Street centre mentioned by Deputy Gregory. The Garda are aware of the concern of this House, as they should be. They are thoroughly investigating the matter at present, reviewing the legislation and having discussions with the Attorney General and with the senior legal advisers of my Department to see how best all our resources can be pooled together to deal with this matter which none of us has time for and, I will go further and say, which we are determined to put on the sideline.
