I welcome my colleague, Deputy Ivana Bacik, into Dáil Éireann and congratulate her on her achievement. We are very proud of her in the Labour Party. She is an incredible legislator and I thank the Taoiseach and the leader of Sinn Féin for their kind words. I assure the Taoiseach that Deputy Bacik is someone who will hold him and his Government to account over the coming days, weeks and years. He will find that out relatively quickly.

I want to ask about an issue that has come to the fore because an tUachtarán, Michael D. Higgins, raised it, that is, the significant scourge of gambling. It was also raised on "Prime Time" in an excellent report from Conor McMorrow. Oisín McConville, Cathal McCarron and other GAA stars have also highlighted issues they have and have been very open about their concerns and what happened to them. I watched the excellent European soccer championship over the last month or so, as did many others. I sat down to watch it with my daughter Aoibhe, who is a sports fanatic. The volume of gambling advertisements was, frankly, incredible.

I commend the Taoiseach on bringing in the smoking ban. Watching that on "Reeling in the Years", it is clear that it was very positive legislation. When people watch "Reeling in the Years" from 2021 or 2020 they will wonder why we allowed such advertisements on television, radio, in print and online. We need to deal with the issue. The President is right. Twice in the last two weeks, he has raised this issue and said it was a scourge. The Government has talked about bringing in a gambling regulator and we support it on that but it needs to implement Senator Mark Wall's Bill to ban gambling advertising.

The advertising out there is incredible. It never stops. It brings people who have problems with addiction back in. Some €1.36 billion was lost to gamblers last year. That is €300 per person but we all know that a large amount of money is lost by a small number of people. If we do not deal with this issue, many people will continue to have significant problems when it comes to an addiction to gambling, such as mental health issues and even - dare I say it - suicide because of it. The impacts it has on families are often hidden until it is too late.

As I said, the Taoiseach brought in excellent forward-thinking legislation many years ago to ban smoking indoors. The Government is bringing in a regulator for gambling but that is taking too long. In the interim, I ask the Taoiseach please to support us and support what the President of Ireland is asking us to do by banning gambling advertisements, particularly for young people, across all social, print and broadcast media.

We could do this relatively quickly. Other countries have done it. We are behind on this issue. I ask the Taoiseach to please do so.

I thank the Deputy for raising what is an important issue. I take on board the comments made by Uachtarán na hÉireann on gambling advertising. As the Deputy knows, the programme for Government commits to comprehensively reforming the licensing and regulation of gambling activities and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, is overseeing the reform of that legislation. In particular, he is focusing on the establishment of a gambling regulator which would be focused on public safety and well-being, covering gambling online and in person. The regulator would have the powers to regulate advertising both online and through more traditional media.

We will look at Senator Wall's Bill. It would be important, as a precursor, to have an all-party approach and engagement on this in the Oireachtas. In the meantime, it is important that we pursue the legislation for the establishment of a regulator. The pathway is that it would be fully operational in early 2023 and the work is under way on the legislation to develop modern licensing and regulatory provisions for the industry. As regards the milestones the Minister of State has targeted, he envisages that the draft general scheme will go to government by the end of quarter 3 and it is intended to finalise the appointment of a CEO-designate by the end of the year. The regulator will have enforcement powers for licensing and powers to take action where individual or operators are failing to follow rules and regulations. It will have key objectives in making sure to provide for responsible and safer gambling as well as combating problem gambling.

Addiction to gambling is a terrible illness which can destroy families and individuals. The Deputy is correct on that. We need to stand back from the immediate legislation and look at the bigger picture around gambling. We need to look at what we can do to deal with the issue itself and support those who have an addiction to gambling and provide the necessary supports to them. The establishment of an independent gambling regulator could help to change the debate and the narrative around this. The regulator would develop the regulations, codes of conduct, codes of practice and so forth but perhaps it would also become the catalyst for the further policy changes that are required.

I accept that the situation and frameworks governing gambling are weak. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland develop codes around advertising and so on but it is something we need to take a broader look at as a Legislature. I will look at the Deputy's proposals with a constructive frame of mind.

I thank the Taoiseach for the positive reply and for his comments on taking an all-party approach. Establishing a regulator is taking too long. I have serious issues with regard to what the regulator should be doing about how betting companies and establishments such as casinos behave. Gambling companies are totally unscrupulous. If people have a problem with gambling and they search "gambling" online, they will be flooded with advertisements for gambling. The Labour Party had a campaign to ban these ads and afterwards we were flooded with advertising for gambling based on an algorithm that threw these ads at us. Even having this positive conversation about gambling in Dáil Éireann will result in the people who are engaging on our behalf having gambling advertisements thrown at them. That is outside the print media, television and radio. I should not have to explain to my 11-year-old daughter what in-play betting is when it pops up in the middle of a European championship final. It is not acceptable. I want to see the regulator and I will work with the Taoiseach on that but in advance of that, we need to implement a version of Senator Wall's Bill. We need to ban advertising for gambling in the media I have pointed out.

As I said, there are two steps involved in this. We need to get a gambling regulator in place.

The Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, is determined to do that. He is competent, diligent and committed to it and I have no doubt he will get it done. We will then need to have a wider debate about gambling advertising more generally. It would be useful for an all-party committee to give consideration to the issue the Deputy has raised. A relevant committee may already be in existence. I am conscious of the plethora and proliferation of advertisements on social media. Their impact on the lives of young people, in particular, can be very damaging indeed. We need to do everything to wise up to that and to deal properly with it as a Legislature.