Vol. 467 No. 6
59 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amount paid out in national lottery grants from 1 January 1996, to date by his Department in respect of each county or constituency in the country; and the specific project funded from each grant allocation. [13884/96]
Since 1988, funds from the national lottery have been allocated to my Department for the promotion of Irish cultural activities abroad. In 1995, the Exchequer supplemented the lottery allocation of £220,000 by £180,000, bringing the total allocation for cultural relations with other countries to £400,000. There is no difference between the activities funded under the G.1, national lottery, and G.2, Exchequer, sub-heads.
In 1996, the allocation available through my Department for cultural relations with other countries is £510,000, of which £220,000 is from lottery funding.
Grants are made under these headings by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the advice of the Cultural Relations Committee and go towards the promotion of Irish cultural and artistic events, lecture tours, etc. abroad.
Applications for such grants may be received from groups and individuals anywhere in Ireland and in many cases are not readily identifiable with particular geographic locations. Furthermore, most of the amounts granted are of the nature expended either abroad or on travel abroad. Identification of expenditure by county or constituency is not therefore feasible. I will send a complete schedule detailing the grants paid in 1995 to the Deputy. Information on grants paid in 1996 will be available at the end of this year.
