Mattie McGrath: Urgent Plea to Protect Rural Bingo and Clubs

I'm nearly always remarkably focused on Las Cancola, and I do think that the people I represent here, the plain people of Ireland, all they wanted to do was go out and play the bingo. God, they were playing it when you were a bookologue, Las Cancola, and I was a bookologue before I was even a bad thought in anyone's head. They were playing it. And they were still playing it, we hope. And the Minister, you're bona fides, I accept them, you know, on most pieces of legislation, you've dealt with some very complex pieces, but this is causing fear into ordinary people, the plain people of Ireland. Many don't have the dinner in the middle of the day, as they hear you raise, they say they can't afford the dinner, and they're hoping to make the dinner next day for their winnings on a bingo. But many clubs and organisations, you know, out there, and there are many, and I know when I'm talking about six here, but we'll be talking about six, and there are limits. I could name every club in my county, there are, you know, lottos, that's bit the bucket, or spin the wheel, or jackpots, or whatever, spin the drum, and the amount of effort goes into that, the Natalie Curl of Caila, of the people, by the people, for the people. For their own benefit. Many of them got a lottery grants reasoning, but many didn't. Many have the capability of applying for a lottery grants, and a lot of their facilities, but they run organisations and clubs. George Charles, Pallet Halls, No Crime, Community Centres, you name it. They're supported and augmented by the game of bingo. But more than that, they augment, or they allow, the downtrodden people of rural Ireland, and I'm appealing to you here, we did appeal in the programme for government, to allow for rural-proofing legislation. And I fully accept bingo played in Ballyard Clea, a freshman, is played here in Dublin, yes, it is. But in the country, we have little else left, with Minister Ross and his cabals, and a whole lot of it, he said, no, I have little else left. Leave us the game of bingo, please. Please. Yeah, but you're going to make it so bureaucratic, so cumbersome. You're going to be terrified. And allowed, and allowed, and they met your minister, we met him today, and they said, that you did, and, and, and I could quote, I don't like quoting him, but, um, Ivan Yates said, you'll get 20 minutes with him, and you made no sense whatsoever, didn't understand it. I don't know if Ivan plays bingo now, I say it's probably a little bit more serious, and his, his books, what he'd play, in regards to sport, but, look, I mean, we know he's a bookie now, but, I wonder, do you, and you, the drafters here, nothing against him, understand the far-reaching tentacles of this, um, piece of legislation? Yes, there's five or six amendments here, but, of course, I haven't written down here, the last count called, the ten, nine, um, three, nine, and ten, and thirteen are there, anyway, and there's another one I have, I have mis, mis, miswritten. Twelve is not here, it is. Is it? Twelve, I didn't write down. Five, nine, ten, twelve, and thirteen. I didn't know twelve was, thank you, thank you, Dr. Roy, I didn't know the twelve was, I didn't know the twelve was in this one, on the last scale, um, that's the most important one of all, uh, it is, of course, and, thanks for the, the prompt, because I, didn't, uh, refer to that, so we're concerned about the legislation. We had it here before, Minister, where Minister Ross recommitted, uh, peace, and he called it, to allow the Glancy Amendment, the road traffic bill. I wanted an amendment called here, the bingo amendment, that will allow the plain people of Ireland to have their little bit of sport. Don't kill them off altogether, they pay their taxes, and they work fairly hard, and they support their families, and rail their families, and they support their clubs, and the social life and interaction of the communities, with bingo. So don't have a situation where, I mean, you're going to, I'm a member of the voluntary housing association, with twenty years more. We were discussing here last night, we've made it so difficult, and we've made so much legislation, and we're so impossible, almost, for ordinary volunteers to get the eleven members of a board, or the nine, or the seven, whatever. They don't want to be involved anymore. They're just, they're smothered with paperwork and bureaucracy and regulations. And I worry about this, especially section, uh, amendment twelve, because it can have the unintended consequences, and it can, uh, drive the fear of God into the people. They want them in the hills, in the caves, altogether, going back hundreds of years. Let them out to support themselves. They're not asking from, and from the government, here. They're asking to be allowed to live, to be allowed to, you and your bingo, the day clubs, the lotters, whatever, to keep their clubs, to get the jerseys for the kids. We're talking about, you know what I mean, young kids being fit and obesity. This is all about, what makes people tick, and we, We're in the amendment, Yes, I'm worried about the trust in the amendment twelve. But why would it say that they can no longer do this? Yes, because people are concerned, and if, Yeah, but who will get an explanation from the minister? But I just said, He's making a job of it? The eminent, uh, presenter, Ivan Yates said he didn't understand it. Listen, listen, listen, we, listen, we don't, we don't, we don't need any presenters of any show. Well he was here one day, he was in this house for a long time too, in fairness, he was a good minister. Put your on, you're gone. No, let me know, please, unless, I'm not, I'm not doing this for fun. We met the bingo people today, us in the rural independence, other parties met him too. They are very concerned, they are very unhappy, and they feel that the minister just, maybe he means well, they're not saying anything bad about him, but that he doesn't get it here. The chief accepted he didn't get it this morning, when he said, what he said, he, you know, he was, he didn't understand his brief, or the brief he got, or else he misled the door, one or the other. And I say that, no, I say that, one or the other, I'm not being uncharietful of them. Well, listen, refrain from using words like that. No, I mean, No minister comes in here to mislead the house. And let's get an explanation from the minister. He said either he misunderstood it, or he mislead it all unintentionally. You can mean it, mislead it all unintentionally, and you can correct your ways if you find that you're wrong. And enemies can't do that, I'm not man enough to be here. So minister, people are concerned, huge concern and worry here, thanks. And as I said, they're persecuted with every kind of RAC and road traffic legislation, you name it, and health and safety, HACCP, you name it. Wow. There's legions of officials going around with briefcases under their hands, telling us what we can't do. We're going to play bingo, and we're going to keep playing, and we're going to support our clubs, and I'd like to be able to do within the law. Don't- . . . . . . . . .