Gambling addiction services in receipt of money from the betting industry will not be eligible for state funding, according to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
In a letter written on February 9 to Alcohol Forum Ireland, Varadkar said that any addiction service in the country that received money from the gambling industry will not be eligible for new HSE pilot projects.
The department of health has allocated €1 million in funding between 2023 and 2024 to run gambling addiction help pilots across four community healthcare organisations.
Four bodies were chosen last year, and the services are set to expand this year.
In his letter Varadkar said “the HSE has stipulated that organisations in receipt of funding from the gambling industry would not be co-funded under the pilot initiatives”.
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Varadkar’s letter was written in response to concerns raised by Alcohol Forum Ireland over the funding of addiction services in Ireland.
The group had raised concerns that many services offered here are funded by the Gambling Awareness Trust — an independent charity that receives €1 million each year from the betting industry to operate.
The board of directors of the Gambling Awareness Trust, told the Sunday Times that there is a “misperception around the nature of our funding” and they “cannot reiterate strongly enough how we independently fund and support reputable, professional organisations in the areas of treatment and education to provide services that would otherwise be unavailable.”
“We are an independent national charity overseen by a voluntary board of directors,” they said.
“The work we do is not in any way influenced by the gambling industry. The industry has no operational or other involvement in how we conduct our business or allocate funding,” they added.
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The charity currently acts as an external source of funding for gambling addiction counselling services across 20 of Túsla’s Family Resource Centres, while it funds counsellors to provide services to the GAA. It also funds the Cuan Mhuire treatment centre in Kildare and has commissioned a research project with Maynooth University to examine the extent of gambling and its impacts in Ireland.
Its board of directors includes Tom Hayes, the former minister of state for agriculture, and Kathleen Lynch, a former minister of state at the Department of Health.
Noel Waters, who acted as former secretary general in the department of justice and equality is also a board member.
The Gambling Awareness Trust was established in March 2019, and confirms the fact that it is “an independent charity” on its website. It also confirms in its “about us” section that it receives funding from the gambling industry.
It says it aims to “broaden public understanding of safer gambling, and to help those that do develop problems, or their friends and family members, to get the support and help that they need, quickly and effectively”.
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Varadkar told the Alcohol Forum that the government “commits to reforming gambling legislation in a way that prioritises protecting and safeguarding the public” and the Gambling Regulation Bill 2022 will be responsible for the licensing and regulation of gambling services.
He said that under the Gambling Regulation Bill 2022, a social impact fund will be set up that will fund gambling addiction services.
The bill will also see the establishment of the Gambling Regulation Authority, which will monitor the industry gambling in-person and online including lotteries, gambling advertising, websites and apps. The regulator will also administer the new fund.
The bill completed committee stage in the Dáil last July and was expected to pass into law late last year, but was delayed. The department of justice said it is currently preparing arrangements to the bill for report stage.
A spokesperson said “while the scheduling of Oireachtas business is a matter for the houses of Oireachtas, the Minister (James Browne) is hopeful that the Bill will be enacted in the coming months.”
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In a statement the HSE said: “In 2024 the HSE will be receiving once-off funding to support initiatives around the country to address problems associated with gambling and gaming.
“As part of the tendering process the HSE asks all organisations to include a conflict-of-interest statement. This confirms that the individuals and services involved have not received direct or indirect funding and are not applying for funding from the gambling or gaming industry or any other groups substantially funded by the gambling or gaming industry.
“In 2023, the HSE received funding to provide treatment initiatives for gambling- and gaming-related problems. This was the first time that funding had been provided to statutory services for such initiatives. This funding was allocated via a competitive tendering process.
“During this process, one group did identify that they had services previously funded by Gambling Awareness Trust (a charitable organisation funded by the gambling industry).
“In order to receive the funding from the HSE, the service had to commit to the funded pilot being completely separate from any existing service, this included the financial stream, operational governance and reporting relationship.
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“All the counselling services in operation for the pilot are provided solely from the funding provided by the HSE.”
The Alcohol Forum is funded by the HSE, the Northwest Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force, Tusla, ESB, Healthy Ireland and the International Fund for Ireland.
