Inquiry into public health approaches to tackling gambling-related harm: 3rd oral evidence session

Date: Monday 13 March 2023

Time: 12:00pm

Location: Zoom

Chairperson: Robbie Butler MLA

Minutes taken by: James Mayne, Chambré

Members Present

·        Robbie Butler MLA

·        Philip McGuigan MLA

·        Danny Donnelly MLA

·        Stephen Dunne MLA

·        Paul Frew MLA

·        David Honeyford MLA

·        Nick Mathison MLA

Apologies

·        Harry Harvey MLA

Secretariat

·        Will Chambré – Chambré

·        James Mayne - Chambré

External Guests

·        Chris McAfee

·        Colm Begley

·        Diane Owens – CCEA

·        Emer Boyle

·        Erin McEvoy

·        Jane Rigbye -YGAM

·        Linda Smith

·        Lynne Hackworth

·        Martin Jones

·        Matt Gaskell

·        Maurice Meehan

·        Michael Smyth – Department for Communities

·        Scott Taylor

·        Scott Taylor

·        Sharon McElroy

·        Steve Mulligan - BACP

·        Thomas McKeever

·        Tunde Adebisi

Minutes

1.      Welcome

Robbie Butler MLA welcomed members to the meeting.

2.      Minutes of last meeting

Members agreed that the minutes of the last meeting (27 February) were a true and accurate representation of that meeting. Proposed by Philip McGuigan MLA and seconded by Danny Donnelly MLA. 

4.      Matters arising

None.

5.      Introductory remarks

The Chairperson opened by recapping the second oral evidence session on the APG’s inquiry into public health approaches to tackling gambling-related harms in NI on 27 February. He then introduced Tim Cairns from CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) and Dr Matt Gaskell from the NHS Northern Gambling Clinic.

6.      Inquiry into public health approaches to gambling-related harms in NI: 3rd oral evidence session - The impact of gambling on health and wellbeing:

Tim Cairns, Senior Policy Officer at CARE presented to members, he highlighted that we "need to understand the [gambling] problem better" - the prevalence "data [for Northern Ireland] is hopelessly out of date". He said that baseline data has not been updated since 2016. 

Matt Gaskell told APG members that we've "got to move away from the personal responsibility narrative" and "focus on the the commercial driver of [gambling related] harm" - reducing the "profits of the [gambling] industry to reduce harm".

The witnesses then took questions from members.

The Chair thanked the speakers for their presentations, and members for their questions

7.      AOB

None

8.      Next meeting

The next meeting will take place on Monday 27 March at 12:00.