Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 24 Mar 1993

Vol. 428 No. 2

Written Answers. - Assistance to Charities.

Alan M. Dukes

Ceist:

24 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Finance the action, if any, he proposes to take to assist 16 charities which have detailed to him, and to his predecessor, the damage which their fund-raising efforts have sustained as a result of the diversion of discretionary expenditure to the national lottery; if he will meet representatives of those charities to discuss their case; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Finance (Mr. B. Ahern)

I welcome this opportunity to correct some of the misconceptions at large in the community about the impact of the national lottery on charitable fundraising.

A study carried out by economic consultants DKM on behalf of the National Lottery Company and published in April 1992 estimated that the income of charitable bodies rose from £90 million approximately in 1989 to a estimated £129 million in 1991. In other words the revenue to charities from charitable fundraising had grown substantially in real terms contemporaneously with the growth of the National Lottery. That survey also suggests that, for most of the leading charities their revenue from private fundraising had considerably outstripped inflation over the lifetime of the national lottery.

Charities and the voluntary sector generally have been significant beneficiaries by way of lottery-funded grants from the Exchequer. For instance the health and welfare category of lottery-funded expenditure — much of which goes to charitable voluntary bodies, including some of the charitable organisations involved in the submission referred to by the Deputy — accounted for £105 million of lottery expenditure in the period 1987-1992. So, in the overall, charities have been significant beneficiaries from the proceeds of the lottery.

I will be meeting with representatives of the charities shortly to discuss this matter with them.