“Clearly no one wants to reduce child benefit, but there will be cuts and there will be adjustments,” Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes has said of the social welfare budget this evening.
Negotiations have “concluded” on the Haddington Road deal, said the junior finance minister, adding less favourable conditions will apply to those unions who reject it.
Goverment TDs should be allowed to vote against their party on certain matters under proposals by backbench TD Eoghan Murphy in an internal document circulated among Fine Gael members this week.
The Dáil debated a Fianna Fáil-proposed private members’ motion on the mortgage arrears crisis tonight but it was easily defeated by the government’s majority.
Office of Public Works Minister Brian Hayes has announced plans to find other State uses or to sell off the 139 garda stations that have been closed in the past two years.
He also said that Ireland is the most likely country to get back to the markets due to the “extraordinary patience and hard work” of its people over the last five years.
Brian Hayes says he believes new products being rolled out by banks should include options for people who can afford their mortgages, but whose properties are unfit for their families.
The junior finance minister says that salaries of over €100,000 paid to people in the public sector is “the biggest area” the government needs to look at.
Dublin councillor Mary Fitzpatrick, head of a joint policing committee, calls on OPW junior minister to force response from concert promoter on Swedish House Mafia debacle.
A BAN ON “all forms of advertising” by betting companies before the 9pm watershed has been recommended by the Oireachtas Justice Committee.
A report published by the committee said around 3,400 15 and 16-year-olds are “engaged in problem gambling in Ireland”.
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“Stakeholders emphasised, in particular, the need for a pre-watershed ban on all forms of gambling advertising.
“They pointed out that a cultural shift had resulted in advertising on cigarettes being banned and advertising on alcohol being curtailed and recommended that the same approach be applied to gambling advertising,” the document states.
In terms of online adverts, the report notes that gambling ads are typically aimed at people over the age of 25. However, stakeholders noted “it can be challenging to prevent all websites from showing adverts to those underage”.
The report was compiled as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Gambling Regulation Bill, which is expected to pass next year.
What do you think: Should all gambling ads be banned before 9pm?