Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Perhaps the Comptroller and Auditor General will be able to help me in his remarks on my next question, which relates to item D3 in the appropriation accounts, which states "Grants for sporting bodies and the provision of sports and recreational facilities (part funded by national lottery)*". I see the phrase "part funded by national lottery" all over the accounts in Departments. Out of the €21 million in funding provided by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport under item D3, how much was from the national lottery and how much was from the Department's budget? It also states that the Irish Sports Council is part-funded by the national lottery. It is not possible to get a clear audit trail, from what I see in the Government accounts, of where the national lottery money goes. Nobody can say that a specific amount is a grant from the national lottery because there is a pot of funds that includes national lottery funding and it goes out in that way. The same applies in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to the social housing programme. Some of the projects are part-funded, and when I have asked specific questions on the exact amount of money the Department received and the projects to which the money was applied, the representatives were not able to answer that. The usual response is that they get an allocation and the national lottery funding is in the pot and they pay from the pot. The public assumes that if there is €200 million available for good causes, there is a list of where the money goes and not just a general allocation in part-funding.

Can something be done to bring clarity to the national lottery funding because the general clause applies across other Departments?