Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 November 2022

Public Accounts Committee

Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund

9:30 am

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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In the understanding of the public, and in my understanding, it is between 27% and 28.5%. That is the variation in the figures. We will accept that. It is the understanding of committee members as well. We have ascertained from the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which we did not know until the report was published, that there was more than €120 million in unclaimed prizes in a six-year period. I was surprised by that. We have also discovered that just 2% of that is redistributed to community groups, sporting groups and so on. I am sorry; it is actually used as extra prize money. None of it goes back into the community. By way of comparison, in the British model unclaimed prize money goes out after 180 days. Would that be a welcome development if we brought it in it here?