Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform

National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage

4:35 pm

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy is making a strong and compelling case. Under the existing legislation and all the amendments to it going back to 1986, the licence issued by the Minister was not published as it was deemed to be commercially sensitive. I think that we should move away from that, which is the way we are going. It is not an area in which I have personal expertise. I am guided by the professional advice we have from the commercial sector to move in this direction. The advice is that there is commercial sensitivity involved which is the reason for the replication in the Bill in the manner outlined. The net question the Deputy has asked is what is commercially sensitive about an application that will not be replicated for a long time. My answer is that I do not know, but the advice I have is to draft the Bill in this way for reasons of commercial sensitivity. This is no more than doing what was done in 1986, when it was considered that the original licence and its terms were commercially sensitive.