Gambling Workshops To Be Rolled Out In Schools Across Kildare

The programme highlights how young people who start gambling in their adolescents, can have gambling problems in later life.

Gambling  workshops will be provided to students in secondary schools across Kildare over the next six months.

Recent statistics have shown that the problem gambling rate among teenage boys in Ireland has more than doubled in the last 4-5 years.

Just over 3,400 schoolchildren in Ireland aged 15-16 may be gambling either problematically or excessively, although the legal age for gambling in Ireland is 18.

Funding for the workshops has been provided through the HSE National Lottery Grants scheme.

The programme which is run by the Extern Problem Gambling and aims to highlight the impact that problem gambling can have on individuals, families and communities.

Barry Grant, manager of the Extern Problem Gambling project, said: “These schools-based sessions offer an opportunity for us to engage with young people, in a completely non-judgmental way, about these issues and encourage them to reflect on how they may be impacted by gambling, even if they are not aware of it.
“We will be covering areas such as spotting the warning signs of problem gambling, and the common psychological issues which allow people to continue gambling even when it becomes a problem.”

“Young people in our communities are exposed to messages on a daily basis about gambling, whether through sports advertising and sponsorships, online through social media, or even through certain popular video games which offer rewards for investing money.”

Sessions will be delivered by Barry’s colleague Tony O’Reilly, who will be speaking of his own high-profile issues with problem gambling.

Tony also co-hosts the weekly Extern Gambling podcast, which discusses a range of areas related to problem gambling.

Recent guests have included GAA star Oisin McConville and Kildare Senator Mark Wall.

The Extern Problem Gambling project supports people who have been negatively impacted by problem gambling, through providing supports, resources and referral pathways for problem gamblers and their families.

The project also advocates on behalf of those suffering the consequences of problem gambling, and highlights gambling-related issues in the media.

The local addictions charity Extern is highlighting the dangers of problem gambling among young people as part of a new series of workshops being delivered to schools in the Dublin South, Kildare and West Wicklow areas.

For further details on Extern’s Problem Gambling project, including the weekly podcast series, please visit https://www.problemgambling.ie/podcast.html