Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 16 Dec 1993

Vol. 437 No. 4

Written Answers. - National Lottery Funding.

Eamon Gilmore

Ceist:

78 Mr. Gilmore asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amount of money from the proceeds of the national lottery which has been distributed by his Department; and the total amount of such moneys that has been allocated to community, sporting and voluntary bodies.

Eamon Gilmore

Ceist:

79 Mr. Gilmore asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amount of money made available to his Department from the proceeds of the national lottery since 1 January 1993; and the uses to which this money has been put.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 78 and 79 together.

A total of £3,526,721 received from the national lottery has been distributed by my Department in the period 1988 to date: £2,126,721 of this was for cultural relations with other countries. A sum of £1,40,000 was given for disaster relief in developing countries in the years 1988 and 1991.

In 1993 a sum of £213,000 was allocated for promotion of cultural relations with other countries. Grants totalling £211,246 have been paid in the year to date.

Grants for promotion of Irish cultural and artistic projects abroad are awarded to a wide range of individuals and organisations, both amateur and professional. As the recipients are not classified on the basis of whether they are community, sporting or voluntary bodies, I regret that the information sought by the Deputy in relation to the amounts that have been allocated to bodies in these categories is not available.

The funds for disaster relief in developing countries included a total of £1,130,000 distributed through Irish-based Non-Governmental (voluntary) bodies.