I propose to take Questions Nos. 297 to 299, inclusive, together.
The National Lottery Fund was established under the National Lottery Act 1986 and continues in being by virtue of Section 44 of the National Lottery Act 2013. The fund is now managed by the National Lottery Regulator. Prior to his appointment last November it was managed by my Department. The fund receives the proceeds of the sales of National Lottery Tickets after deduction of commission paid to sellers. The fund provides for prizes for winning tickets, funding for good causes and for the annual levy for the operating costs of the regulator. The accounts of the Fund are submitted annually to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit and the Regulator is required to publish a copy of an abstract of the accounts including the C&AG report.
Appendix 1 of the annual Revised Estimates for Public Services gives a breakdown by Department of all the expenditure areas that are supported by the proceeds of the National Lottery. This is available on my Department's website (http://www.per.gov.ie/estpubexp2013/
). A table outlining the aggregate amounts available from the Lottery Fund for Good Causes in each year from 2009 to 2015 is set out below:
Funds for Good Causes
Year
|
Amount
|
2009
|
€275m
|
2010
|
€250m
|
2011
|
€230m
|
2012
|
€220m
|
2013
|
€210m
|
2014
|
€200m
|
2015
|
€200m
|
For approximately a decade, the total allocation for the relevant subheads has exceeded the amount available from the National Lottery. Therefore, these subheads are now described as being part-funded by the National Lottery and the balance of the expenditure allocation for the subheads comes from normal Exchequer sources. For example, for 2015, overall expenditure under these subheads is estimated at €412 million while the proceeds of the National Lottery are estimated at just over €200 million. Individual Government Departments with responsibility for expenditure that is part-funded by the National Lottery can provide details of such expenditure, including lists of recipient organisations and amounts involved.