I ask the Minister for Finance to make whatever changes are necessary in the rules of the national lottery to avoid a position similar to last Saturday, when £1 million was added to an already obscenely large jackpot of £3.8 million, which has since risen to £7 million. Many small clubs and organisations are in the extremely difficult position of having to raise funds against a major national body. On the bank holiday, the national lottery unnecessarily added £1 million to its prize fund. If the jackpot had been £500,000 one could have excused the addition of extra money to encourage punters, but when it was £3.826 million there was no excuse.
A few weeks ago many clubs and community groups were looking forward to support from the small sports allocations. County Monaghan received the massive sum of £23,000; four clubs benefited and many others were disappointed. If the Minister of State responsible for sport had been given £1 million to spread nationally, at least four more clubs in Monaghan could have been supported.
The Phoenix leisure centre in Carrickmacross has been under construction for donkeys' years. It received two small national lottery allocations but it is a white elephant, in a town which is trying to do well in the Tidy Towns competition and provide sports facilities for its young people. What would £250,000 — one quarter of the extra £1 million — have meant for that centre? Sister celine has ten flats and a number of houses to provide shelter for the homeless in Castleblayney. When she looks for national lottery funds there are always reasons she does not meet the criteria. Yet the national lottery adds £1 million to the already inflated jackpot. What difference would it make to win £4.82 million as opposed to £3.82 million? The extra £1 million would not make much difference to the winner but it could make a difference to many projects.
Other groups try to raise funds through ticket sales. Rehab, for example, provides an excellent service in giving training to the handicapped and others, but its lottery is capped. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister for Finance to remove the cap from the other charities which need the freedom to give proper prize money to fund their much needed projects? Perhaps she could do so herself, which would be all the better. Representatives of Rehab and many other organisations try to sell lottery or raffle tickets but they must compete against the national lottery. We want a common sense approach but there is none at present.
This coming weekend, many people will spend money from social welfare and other sources which is needed for their families, with the idea that the jackpot will solve their problems. I hope that whoever wins the £7 million gives at least some of it to worthy causes and makes proper use of the rest of it does not do him or her any harm.