National Lottery Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 February 2012

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Questions (241)

Maureen O'Sullivan

Question:

284 Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views that while, for the past number of years, each Department with responsibility for expenditure that is part funded by the National Lottery surplus published information concerning such expenditure on their website, the reality is that no Department publishes a consolidated compendium of its National Lottery expenditures — on its website or otherwise — and the considerable changes in Department structures, titles, staffing and responsibility in the course of 2011 make it a practical impossibility for a lay person, even with access to departmental websites; if he will identify the way National Lottery funds were expended in recent years, geographically, thematically or otherwise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10709/12]

Written answers

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Brendan Howlin)

As I have outlined in replies to previous questions, the allocation of funding from subheads which are part-funded by the surplus from the National Lottery is the responsibility of a number of Government Departments and Agencies. These Departments and Agencies are listed each year in Appendix 1 of the Revised Estimates for Public Services (REV). In recent years, funding raised by the Lottery has only part-funded the subheads with the balance coming from the exchequer. Therefore, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the distribution of Lottery funding per se.

I note the Deputy's comments on the accessibility of the information she was seeking and I am making sure that Departments are fully aware of the requirement that they publish the appropriate details on their websites.