Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

I agree with most of my colleagues. However, I would not cast aspersions on the Minister's integrity. I know him long enough to know how he deals with these matters.

As someone said, we are legislating for the future. When I became a Member of this House more than 20 years ago, hundreds of thousands of pounds of national lottery funds were given to a constituency not far from Dublin. We found out that the moneys had been given to organisations which had not even submitted applications. The rule of thumb comes into play in that instance. The matter was widely publicised in the newspapers at the time. I am not saying the Minister would even consider doing such a thing. We are legislating for the future and the door is being left open. This is why legislation should be open, transparent and above board, not just for the present but for the future.

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