Vol. 389 No. 4
asked the Minister for Finance the amount of money currently in hand from national lottery sales which has not been allocated; the plans, if any, he has for the disbursement of the money this year; and when he will implement the proposels of the All-Party Committee.
114.
asked the Minister for Finance if the Government will decide to match the final figure of the RTE appeal for people in need pound for pound from national lottery funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 114 together.
It is now estimated that the national lottery surplus available for spending in 1989 will be £61 million, taking account of the amount carried forward from 1988 and present estimates of lottery ticket sales for 1989. The bulk of this will be required to meet the 1989 costs of projects and programmes which have already been approved for funding from the lottery.
The Government have not yet completed their consideration of the proposals of the all-party working group on the method of allocating lottery funds nor have they finalised lottery allocations for 1989. I expect to be in a position to make an announcement about these questions very shortly and I do not propose to enter into commitments to specific projects in advance of that announcement.
