Vol. 421 No. 6
122 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health if he will outline, the proportion of the £39.8 million from the national lottery intended to be spent on the health services in 1992, that will be spent on (a) the North Eastern Health Board and (b) in County Meath.
The distribution of the Health allocation of national lottery funds for 1992 is not yet finalised. It is normal practice to retain some lottery funds to provide for contingencies which may arise later on in the year. For these reasons, it is not possible at this stage to say what proportion of the 1992 allocation will be spent in the North Eastern Health Board area or in County Meath.
123 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health when the policy decision was made to use national lottery funds for hospital building; and if this required any amendment to existing legislation.
National lottery funds have been applied to hospital building projects since 1987-88. As regards the legal position, the building of hospitals is clearly in the interests of the health of the community and as such comes within the scope of application of national lottery funds as provided for in section 5 (i) (a) of the National Lottery Act, 1986.
