Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Not a single cent of the money that comes in from the national lottery goes to my Department. The money from the national lottery goes to the central Exchequer and every year, when the Estimates are prepared, I bid for resources for my Department. If some of those resources happen to come from the national lottery, that is fine. However, the point I am trying to make is there is a widespread misunderstanding in this regard. People throughout the country keep telling me that I have no worries because my funding comes from the national lottery. My reply is that this is not the case and that the lottery money goes to the central Exchequer, rather than to my Department. I get my share of the total income received by the Exchequer. It forms part of the total income, as does income tax, VAT, stamp duty or whatever else.

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