Written Answers. - National Lottery Funding.
Eamon Gilmore
Ceist:
82
Mr. Gilmore
asked the
Minister for Finance
the total amount of money raised by the national lottery since its inception; the total amount paid out in prize money; the total amount allocated to various Government Departments; and the use to which the balance has been put.
Eamon Gilmore
Ceist:
84
Mr. Gilmore
asked the
Minister for Finance
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.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 84 together.
The national lottery was introduced in March 1987. In the period from then up to end 1992, the latest financial year for which accounts are available, the position regarding sales, prizes, resources and disbursements is as follows:
|
1987-1992
|
|
£m
|
|
Sales
|
1,010.5
|
|
Prizes
|
497.5
|
|
Net Surplus
|
333.5
|
|
Interest earned by National Lottery Fund
|
17.2
|
|
Total Resources available for dis- tribution
|
350.7
|
|
Disbursement to designated ben- eficiary programmes
|
347.5
|
The unallocated balance of £3.2 million was carried over into 1993 for inclusion in this year's allocations to Departments/Agencies.
Details of national lottery sales and prize payments are contained in the Annual Reports of An Post National Lottery Company, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library.
As regards the total amount of money distributed by my Department since the inception of the national lottery, I might perhaps explain that prior to 1990 all funds for lottery-approved programmes were voted in a single subhead in the Vote for my Department. My Department, in turn, released funds to suspense accounts maintained by the Departments directly responsible for the relevant lottery programmes. This system was appropriate in the early stages of the lottery when the amount of funds available could not be accurately predicted early in the year. Technically, therefore, my Department distributed all lottery allocations in the period 1987-1989. However, only one grant was actually made by my Department in the period 1987-89; this was a grant of £20,800 made in 1989 to Gaeleagras na Seirbhíse Poiblí.
Since 1990 lottery funds are no longer issued from a single subhead in the Finance Vote. Instead, the expenditure is provided for in appropriate subheads in the Votes of the relevant Departments. The present system is more appropriate because it is transparent, and because it ensures greater direct accountability to the Oireachtas for the spending of lottery funds by the Minister/Department directly concerned.
Allocations by my Department from 1990 to date are as follows:
|
Year
|
Amount
|
|
1990
|
£107,538
|
|
1991
|
£71,202
|
|
1992
|
£336,000
|
|
1993 (provisional)
|
£100,000
|
Apart from a grant for £250,000 to the Irish Institute for European Affairs in Louvain in 1992, included in the above, all other payments were to Gaeleagras na Seirbhíse Poiblí.
The Vote for the Office of Public Works also comes under my responsibility. To end 1992 expenditure was £8.8 million, mainly for conservation works. For 1993, expenditure on this service is estimated at £80,000.
