Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will answer the Deputy's last question first. It is not a bad deal for Ireland. I would not do it if it was not a good deal for Ireland. There were a few misconceptions in the Deputy's long set of questions. He talked about the up-front fee which I expect to use to build the national children's hospital and he set that against the good causes. The good causes money is separate and the total volume of money for good causes provided by the national lottery last year was 30.5% of total take. I would put that into the base Act - it cannot be less than that going forward. We cannot get less than that and I would hope we would get more than that. In terms of the €4 billion the Deputy spoke about, we will at least get that in the coming years as long as the volume of turnover for the lotto is maintained. Some of the franchisees were concerned. I told them I would maintain in law their 6% stake. Many small shops and so on depend on it. This is good all around.

The Deputy asked me if I had discussed it with other operators. I have not discussed it with Camelot. I am not interested in involving myself in the process. I set up protocols and I published them as soon as I made the decision and brought my proposals to Government so that I would not be involved in the allocation process at all. I am obliged by European law to tender for this licence. One cannot just award a licence like this.

The only issue is what is the best value for it. I have been told a 20-year licence will maximise the value, because there is a very significant input into software and computing technology involved in this. The longer the lifeline one gives to ensure one gets value for that, the better and more attractive the proposition becomes and the more money one can get up-front for the State, and God knows right now the State needs capital for these purposes. I will be obliged to revise the legislation and we will have a full and open discussion on it.

The Deputy asked if I had discussed it with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte. This was a whole of Government decision, so obviously every member of Government had full involvement in it. As I said previously, although I do not know because I have excluded myself from the licensing award process, I would be surprised if An Post was not one of the tenderers for this. It might see this as a stand-alone or as a proposition for which it might bid.

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