Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 22 Feb 1990

Vol. 396 No. 2

Written Answers. - Lottery Funds.

Tomás MacGiolla

Ceist:

140 Tomás Mac Giolla asked the Minister for Education, in light of the verbal undertaking given by the Minister of State at her Department on 17 December 1987 in relation to funding from the national lottery to a deputation representing a community hall project attached to Raphoe vocational school, County Donegal, the progress, if any, which has been made in relation to this case; if funding will be provided; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Education (Mrs. O'Rourke)

The allocation of £4 million in 1988 to the capital grants scheme was fully committed to projects in the earlier part of that year. With the exception of funds carried over to meet these ongoing commitments no further allocation was made to this scheme to fund additional projects.

As outlined by the Minister for Finance on 24 October 1989 in his reply to Questions Nos. 26, 48 and 55, the Government decided to amalgamate the capital grants scheme operated by my Department with the amenity grants scheme operated by the Department of the Environment into a single scheme.

Under the new arrangements, the Minister for the Environment will allocate grants to projects recommended by local authorities, who will also be responsible for the processing of all applications under the new scheme.

All applications submitted to my Department, including the application received from Raphoe Community Hall Committee, have been forwarded to the local authorities for consideration.