Vol. 417 No. 5
101 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Finance if he will be bringing forward proposals with a view to changing the manner in which national lottery funds are distributed in view of the announcement that was made by Government in respect of this matter during the course of 1991; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The position regarding the distribution of national lottery funds is that the allocation of funds to the various Government Departments is decided in the first instance by Government.
This decision is made in the context of the Estimates process and details are subsequently published as part of both the Abridged and Revised Estimates for the Public Service.
Once lottery funding has been allocated by Government to the various Departments, responsibility for the distribution of the funds rests with the spending Minister concerned. There are no plans to change these procedures.
An undertaking was given, however, in the Review of the Programme for Government 1989-1993 that future allocations of the lottery funded amenity grants scheme would be made by local authorities. Questions relating specifically to this scheme are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment.
