Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I wish to go back to the point when the national lottery was privatised by a Fine Gael Government in 2014. Two additional balls were added to the total numbers needed to match and win. This was always going to decrease the number of winners and increase the number of losers, which is really privatisation in a nutshell. However, we are here today because of the concern expressed by some about the extensive run of jackpot rollovers. We have just spoken about the low probability of that happening. In my view, while the extensive run of rollovers might not have been predicted, surely it should have been prevented at the outset in the setting of the national lottery's game rules. Is Mr. Algeo aware of any risk assessment that was done at the time by the Government? I know he is not here to speak for the Government, but I am interested in whether he was aware of whether there was a risk assessment carried out at that time. When the sale was agreed did the Government of the day raise with PLI the issue of unlimited jackpot rollovers and no requirement for unclaimed prizes to go to charitable causes? I am interested because this is now the issue of the day, but it probably should have been looked at in 2014 to ensure it could not happen.