In rising to support the motion in the names of the Fine Gael Senators, that the Seanad calls on the Government to establish an independent authority to determine the manner in which allocations of national lottery funds will be made and disbursed, I have no doubt from my travels around the country and in talking to people and to beneficiaries under this scheme, that they would prefer if there was an independent, autonomous body responsible for the disbursement of these funds. First of all, the funds are very welcome. Secondly, those of us who were involved in putting the legislation together which made the funds available, want to be crystal clear in saying that we have no objection whatsoever to the various sporting and cultural organisations that have benefited. But there is a perception that in some way the national lottery is being used and disbursed otherwise than in accordance with the relative legislation. That is understandable because all the announcements that are made about allocations from these funds are made by Deputies and Ministers and Ministers of State from the Government party.
That has been an acceptable procedure for a long time in connection with the allocation of grants and various other allocations of Government funds given out under certain Department Votes and subheads. There is a belief abroad that the national lottery funds, because of the very special way in which the lottery was set up and the way in which the Government have come to have them available to spend, this particular disbursement of funds should not be seen as a Government function. We have the Government announcing an allocation purporting that it comes from Government funds which it does not and announcements being made by people associated with Government as if an allocation was from Government funds — which it is not — obviously being informed through the offices of those who have the facility and the information available to them when the allocations are decided. That is, as I understand it, the nub of the motion.
The Fine Gael group want to remove allocations from the political arena because this money is not secured through political decisions. This money is secured because people support the national lottery which is run by the National Lottery Board and they advise Government as to the amount of money available for disbursement in grants. I understand there is an application process which is dealt with by the Minister for State in the Department of Education. The Taoiseach's Department, I think, has the overall responsibility. The widespread condemnation throughout the country of the manner in which the grants are announced has led to demands that somehow there should be an independent voice, opinion and authority, not alone to look at the applications but to announce them so that all of us can feel part of the distribution of these funds as all of us were part of initiating the legislation and as all of us are contributors in some way or another to the coffers of the funds. That being so, it is certainly outside the area of the privileged few who know about the information and those of us who have a right to know also, as part of the legislative body that set up the procedure.
I have welcomed the allocations to several sporting and cultural bodies within my own constituency. There is no suggestion that anybody on any side of the House is questioning the eligibility of some of the beneficiaries of these funds. It is the process that is used to allocate them and to announce the allocations. They are definitely being used by politicians for political purposes, which is not what the funds were intended to be used for. If that were the case, people could assume that this lottery was a further extension of the taxation system, which is a political instrument. The funds from taxation go into the coffers of the Government and are dispensed by the Government on the basis of the need in particular areas or communities for capital works, local authority funding and other such projects.
I regard the national lottery funds as the property of everybody and as such their disbursement should be above any question of political interference and allocations should certainly be announced outside the political structure presently being used by this Government for the allocation of the funds. For that reason I and my colleagues would support the concept of forming an independent authority to do this. It would benefit the Government and would probably benefit the national lottery in that it would have broader support from the public who have generously supported the lottery by their participation.
Often the lottery has been criticised and people have made judgments about its morality or otherwise, but its success and the way people have responded to it has overcome any inhibitions that particular people might have had about participating in it. I feel that the money that is becoming available for various schemes, money that would never have been available for these schemes were it not for the lottery, should be used and distributed as independently and as impartially as possible without the question mark that is being put against its distribution by various people throughout the country. I support the motion.