Vol. 416 No. 6
138 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance whether a submission has been received by his Department during 1991 regarding the competition disadvantage of lotteries operated on behalf of voluntary agencies compared to those of the National Lottery Company; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I can confirm that the submission referred to by the Deputy was forwarded to my Department for attention by the Department of the Taoiseach in 1991.
The submission on behalf of the sixteen charitable organisations was a very extensive one and raised many issues requiring careful consideration by my Department.
I might just mention that among the many issues raised was a suggestion that severe restrictions be imposed upon the activities of the National Lottery Company such as limiting both the size of its agent network and its product range.
I could not accept the adoption of such suggestions which would severely impact on the activities of the National Lottery Company, with adverse consequences for the national lottery fund and the many voluntary and charitable organisations assisted from it — including, indeed, some of the parties to the submission in question.
I hope to be able to respond to points made by the charities in their submission very shortly.
