Róisín Shortall
Question:99 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the reason local authorities are excluded from receipt of national lottery funds in 1993; if he intends to remedy this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - National Lottery Funding.
Róisín Shortall
Question:100 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Finance if, in relation to the distribution of national lottery funds in 1992, he will give the criteria used in the allocation of the £82 million available for distribution; the Ministers responsible for the distribution of these funds; the amount available to each Minister; the recipients of these funds; and the amount allocated in each case.
Róisín Shortall
Question:101 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Finance if he has satisfied himself with the way in which national lottery funds are allocated; if he will establish an all-party committee to oversee the fair and equitable distribution of the substantial funds available; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 99, 100 and 101 together.
Local authorities are not excluded from receipt of national lottery funds this year. The Department of the Environment has four lottery funded programmes which will receive £5.204 million and which will be channelled through local authorities. It is true that local authorities have not received funding for a fresh "Amenity Projects and Recreational Facilities" scheme in either 1992 or 1993 (such funding as has been provided has been in respect of outstanding grant commitments). Any other questions on these amenity grants would be a matter for my colleague the Minister for the Environment, however I would make the general point that there are, inevitably, more demands on lottery resources each year than there are funds available and it is a matter for Government to decide on the allocation of scarce resources.
Regarding the distribution of funds in 1992 it should be explained that while the National Lottery Company generated a surplus of some £82 million in 1992 that the carryover of unspent funds from previous years, plus interest earned by the National Lottery Fund, enabled the Government to provide a total of £100.149 million for lottery funded programmes. Details of 1992 expenditure are set out in the volume "Revised Estimates for Public Services" copies of which are available in the Library. Appendix I of the volume shows the national lottery funded expenditure programmes. Information on individual grant recipients should be sought directly from the Ministers concerned.
I am satisfied that the present method of allocating lottery funds accords with the best principles of public accountability. Lottery funding is allocated to the various Departments by the Government as part of the annual Estimates process. It is subsequently voted on by the Dáil in the usual way and is later accounted for in the annual Appropriation Accounts. Once lottery funding has been allocated to the individual Departments, responsibility for the distribution of the funds rests with the spending Ministers concerned. Ministers decide upon the criteria for any lottery-funded grants schemes which they administer and may be questioned in this House on all these matters. In the circumstances the Government previously decided that there would be no advantage to changing these arrangements.