asked the Minister for Justice if he is aware of the continued proliferation of gaming machines in places of entertainment with severe detrimental effects on young persons; and the encouragement of gambling generally; and if he will take immediate action on the matter.

I am not so aware and I have no function in the matter if it is licensed amusement halls that the Deputy has in mind when he refers to "places of entertainment". The granting of licences to such establishments is controlled by the courts who have power to impose limits on the numbers of such machines in any particular premises.

If, however, the Deputy has in mind gaming machines on premises which are not licensed amusement halls, that is another matter. Some time ago the Garda received complaints about the operation of these machines in premises not licensed for the purposes of the Gaming and Lotteries Acts. As a result, the Commissioner issued fresh instructions to each Garda station about the enforcement of the law in regard to the presence of these machines in pubs, clubs, hotels, fish-and-chip shops and other such areas. I may say that the Garda have my full support in their efforts to eliminate abuses in this matter.

For the record, there were 86 prosecutions for breaches of the Gaming and Lotteries Act during the first five months of this year.

In view of the fact that there are only a small number of people who supply those machines would the Minister consider having the Garda Commissioner or his Department insisting on the suppliers forwarding to his Department or the Garda a list of the people to whom they have supplied those machines? This would ensure, rather than having a proliferation of those machines all over the place, which people have to spend a lot of time chasing up, the Minister getting a centralised list at the distribution point which might help in relation to pursuing complaints about no licences and so on.

I would be prepared to examine this.