Internet gambling is becoming a "huge problem", with some people spending all night betting online, the director of a Tipperary-based addiction treatment centre said yesterday.
Sister Eileen Fahey, director of Aiséirí, also warned that treatment centres for drug, alcohol and gambling addictions are coming under increasing pressure to cope, with not enough places available for demand.
Sister Eileen said addiction has changed greatly in the last 10 years, when nearly all Aiséirí's patients were addicted to alcohol.
"Today alcohol alone accounts for only 50 per cent of the clients Aiséirí take on our residential programmes," she said.
Internet gambling, she added, has become a serious problem. "Some people are up all night gambling on the Internet and nearly 10 per cent of our clients are addicted to gambling."
Sister Eileen warned that there were not enough treatment centres for addictions.