Under the legislative programme for spring and summer 2017, the gambling control Bill is proposed to provide a comprehensive new licensing and regulatory framework for gambling. The Minister, along with everyone in this House and the public, will be aware that gambling is becoming a scourge in this country, in particular among young people and especially online gambling. We need to get this legislation in place and get control over this issue before it gets out of hand.

The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is dealing with this matter and I will ask him to respond to the Deputy.

I thank the Deputy for the question. It is an issue about which we are all very concerned. I hope in the next week or two to publish the heads of a Bill which will contain some measures to deal with the issues about which the Deputy is concerned. I hope the main gambling Bill will be produced by the end of the year; that is the intention. Earlier this year, we carried out a review of developments in the interim since the heads were produced in 2014. They are substantial. The Deputy is correct on online activity. We are determined to establish a regulator and I have recently explored ways of setting one up on an interim basis in order to get the work started.