Bernard Allen
Question:66 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Finance the reason he has not implemented the report of the All Party Committee on the national lottery.
Written Answers. - Report on National Lottery.
As I indicated in a reply to a Dáil question on 24 October 1989 the Government accepted the broad thrust of the recommendations made by the committee in relation to the method of allocating national lottery funds to particular sectors. I would refer the Deputy to my answer to that question for the details of the present administrative arrangements in relation to the allocation of lottery funds.
The main areas where these arrangements diverge from the committee's recommendations relate to the Department of the Environment's amenity grants scheme and the Department of Education's recreational facilities grants scheme. Whereas the committee had recommended the allocation of block grants to local authorities and VECs respectively, the Government decided instead to merge the two grant schemes with the Minister for the Environment allocating funds on foot of recommendations by local authorities who are responsible for processing applications. The Government also decided that the allocation of lottery moneys to voluntary bodies in the welfare area was proper to the Minister for Social Welfare rather than the health boards.
The Government did not accept a general recommendation that lottery funds should not be used to substitute for Exchequer funding.