Former Minister for Sport Michael Ring has called for legislation to prohibit gambling on underage and school matches to be introduced immediately.

The Mayo TD's appeal comes after the GAA made a submission to the Department of Justice and Equality earlier this year with a view to outlawing gambling on games involving juveniles. Yesterday, an unnamed inter-county footballer revealed that he bet against his own team in an Allianz League game after developing a gambling addiction during his teens.

"We have a very serious problem out there of gambling addiction and I think legislation has to be brought in to deal with this," Deputy Ring said on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland.

"I don't like it in sport, I don't think it's necessary in underage sport and I would like to see the legislation brought in to make sure that gambling in underage sport is not allowed. 

"Here within the country itself it's time that we looked at it, and it's time that we dealt with it. This legislation goes back many many years, it needs to be updated, it needs to be updated quickly and I have to say that I'm appalled to learn that now you can gamble on school games and underage games.

"That should not be allowed, particularly with the problems we have in this country in relation to gambling. It's very wrong. I will certainly be lobbying to make sure that this legislation is brought forward and that we deal with this very serious issue that we have now. 

"I would hope that with this new government, it's an issue that would get cross-party support. We love our sport, we like to see clean sport in this country and there's enough gambling going on - we shouldn't have it at underage level."

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