18. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Justice if he will report on the work to date of the CEO of the Gambling Regulatory Authority.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice James Browne: The Programme for Government includes a clear commitment to reform gambling legislation, with a focus on public safety and well-being. The Gambling Regulation Bill 2022 will cover gambling online and in person, and include powers to regulate advertising, gambling websites and apps.

The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) will be provided with the necessary enforcement powers to enable it to take appropriate and focused action where providers are failing to comply with the provisions of the Authority’s licensing terms, conditions and regulations.

A Programme Board has been established in my Department to ensure that the legislation and the operational preparations are progressed in parallel so that the Authority is in a position to commence operations, on a phased basis, as soon as possible after enactment. Planning is progressing in the expectation that the legislation will be enacted in 2023.

In this regard, I am pleased to say that the CEO Designate of the GRAI was appointed last September and is progressing important preparatory work. Provision of €1.774m has been made in the vote of my Department for 2023 to meet associated costs.

Considerable progress has been made by the CEO Designate on the establishment of the GRAI including:

• Extensive stakeholder engagement with other Gambling Regulators, industry participants, and Gambling Care experts,
• Research on Codes of Practice, based on the Bill, as well as best practice elsewhere, and
• Exploration of options for a Gambler Exclusion scheme, informed by the experience of other countries.

In addition, significant other work streams and continuing and involve putting in place essential ICT infrastructure, as well as designing financial modelling and licensing structures.