Vol. 552 No. 1
338 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Health and Children the amount of national lottery funding which was made available to the Motor Neurone Disease Association for the expansion and maintenance of their equipment bank during each year since 1999; and if an increased grant will be made in 2002 as no grant was obtained in 2001. [11477/02]
I would like to inform the Deputy that there is a set protocol in place for processing applications for national lottery grants. When an application is received in my Department it is registered in the finance unit and forwarded to the relevant services division for their assessment, evaluation and recommendation. All applications are then considered in the context of the recommendation and the overall level of funds available.
The organisation referred to by the Deputy has received grants from the departmental allocation of national lottery funds towards the maintenance and expansion of their equipment bank since 1999 as follows: 1999, £10,000 (€12,697.38); 2000, £80,000 (€101,579.05); 2001 Nil. While the national lottery application submitted in 2001 was recommended for a grant by the services division the number of applications received far exceeded the available resources and it was not possible to assist in this particular case during 2001. The organisation was informed of this on the 8 January 2002 and advised that they may apply for a grant from the 2002 national lottery allocation if funding for this project was still required.
My Department received an application for a grant from the 2002 Department of Health and Children allocation of national lottery funds on the 18 January 2002 from the organisation referred to by the Deputy. The organisation is again seeking funding towards the maintenance and expansion of their equipment bank. The application is under consideration for a grant from my Department and the organisation will be informed as soon as a decision has been made.
