Liam Hyland
Question:38 Mr. Hyland asked the Minister for Finance the amount of national lottery funding under the various headings allocated to County Laois in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statements on the matter. [23561/96]
Written Answers. - National Lottery.
While as Minister for Finance I have overall responsibility for the operation of the national lottery, decisions regarding the disbursement of lottery funding are a matter for the relevant spending Minister subject to the overall allocations decided by Government.
The most recent period for which detailed information is available in relation to national lottery spending is 1995. Details of spending by the various Government Departments for that year, including lists of grantees, are contained in the Appropriation Accounts for 1995 which were published recently. Copies of the accounts are available in the Oireachtas Library.
With regard to seeking the amounts allocated to particular geographical areas, I would make the point that many of the activities funded from the national lottery do not lend themselves to being disaggregated in this way, for example, in the sports area, grants to the national governing bodies of sporting organisations.
In the case of my own Department, the only area of activity which is funded by the national lottery is Gaeleagras na Seirbhíse Poiblí for Irish language training which received £109,000 from the national lottery in 1995.
Cecilia Keaveney
Question:39 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Finance the revenue raised from the collection of taxes on prizes/allocations of agents on national lottery jackpots; the cost of collecting these taxes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23584/96]
I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that bonus payments made to a seller of a winning national lottery jackpot form part of the normal commercial activity of the seller and, as such, are chargeable to tax. I am also informed that statistics on income tax and corporation tax receipts do not distinguish between amounts of tax that arise from lottery bonus payments and from other sources. Accordingly, it is not possible to provide the information requested by the Deputy.