Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the National Lottery Bill 2012. Before I go into the details of the legislation, it is important to state that the national lottery has been of great benefit to this State and its citizens. I know that some of the nanny-State brigade have a problem with people betting a few euro or gambling a bit in an effort to win a few bob, but that is in our genes. The Irish people like to gamble and to get a bit of fun out of life. Then, if they lose their few euro, at least the money goes to good and deserving causes. That is why I am concerned about any attempt to give away or sell off our State asset but in fairness to this legislation, this does not appear to be the case. Nonetheless, we should all reflect carefully on this, particularly as some assets, like our forests, could be put to better use and generate income for the State in a downturn. We must be extremely cautious in that regard.

The Bill is being introduced in the context of the next licence to operate the national lottery. The current licence expires at the end of June 2013. The national lottery was set up by the National Lottery Act 1986 and has been run under licence by An Post ever since. The Bill will repeal the original 1986 legislation and will establish an independent national lottery regulator.

Beyond this, it updates the legislative provisions of the licence and operation of the lottery, although with few major alterations. Many of the details of the operation of the lottery and distribution of funds will be determined by the contents of the next licence.

These are the main issues in the Bill. I will deal with its sections later. It is important to get this legislation right as it will be in existence for the next 20 years. Efficiency, accountability and delivery to the most genuine and needy cases should be the priority. There must be no messing around or slush funds for Ministers. That is something we all must focus on in the legislation.

To date, there has been little amendment to the original legislation governing the national lottery. In 2011, there was a transfer of responsibility from the Minister for Finance to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The terms of the licence are not included in the Bill although, under the Bill, the licence should be published and publicly available, apart from commercially sensitive information. It is expected that the licence will be extended in duration from the current ten year period to a 20 year period, an upfront payment will be made by the new operator to the State and the current management fee will be replaced by the operator's fee, producing more company profits, although none of these terms is specified in the Bill.

The rationale for this approach is to help generate funds to build a new national children's hospital. I welcome that part of the proposal. No figure has been adopted although figures in the region of €400 million and €600 million have been mentioned. The primary change in the Bill is to establish an independent national lottery regulator, who will be paid by an annual levy paid by the licensee. The Bill itself will repeal the National Lottery Bill 1986.

We must zoom in on the real agenda. The money raised will be used to build the national children's hospital. This is a positive thing. As an independent Deputy, I welcome that. We have to get a move on building the national children's hospital. There is cross-party support for the hospital. There were differences of opinion regarding the location. My own preferred location was the Mater hospital site. The people of Dublin North and of Dublin bay north and across the north side of Dublin preferred that option. The decision has been made, however, and we need action. We need to put the protection of children at the top of the political agenda. This issue cannot become a political football. We have excellent staff, doctors, consultants, nurses, porters and caretakers working in our health service. It would be fantastic to have a national children's hospital that would be an example of good practice internationally and would save children's lives.

I commend the Government's brave and decent decision to introduce the new drug, kalydeco, for cystic fibrosis patients. It is a very costly drug, but the Government has done a compassionate thing for the 120 patients directly affected. If there is a funding issue in the future, some scheme should be put in place with all-party agreement. I met representatives of Vertex, the company that manufactures kalydeco, when they came to Ireland and met a group of Deputies last summer. I was impressed by their submission. They went to the Minister for Health and the HSE, and the political decision was then made by the Minister and the Taoiseach. I welcome that. The duty of an Opposition Deputy is to hold the Government to account but if the Government does the right thing, there is nothing wrong with commending it. I commend the Government on this action. As someone who has been working on the cystic fibrosis issue for many years, this is an important decision and good luck to all the families affected by cystic fibrosis. They deserve it.

Sections of the Bill deal with issues such as communities and health. This morning, I was in the Darndale estate, an area in the new constituency of Dublin bay north, which could do with money for youth services, the drugs issue and housing and health issues. Last Monday, I attended a public meeting in Howth to deal with the development of the town of Howth. Let us look at sensible proposals for putting excess money into places like Darndale and Howth to develop the economy. There is significant potential here. The national lottery is an investment fund and should be used in a commonsense manner.

Under section 5 of the 1986 Act, the surplus funds remaining after prizes and expenses have been paid are used for sport and other recreation, national culture, including the Irish language, the arts, the health of the community and such other purposes and in such amounts as the Government may determine from time to time. For such other purposes, public notice has to be given in Iris Oifigiúil, and these categories include youth, welfare, national heritage and amenities. This could be linked into a stimulus package. It would not rate as a major stimulus package but it could be very helpful. Many people are involved in the arts and we have many talented people who find it difficult to find work. We should not hold back on doing something about this. We must also develop sport as part of our national health policy. Too many people need more exercise and we need to deal with the obesity issue. We should not be afraid to look at mental health projects and do something about the crisis in that area.

Such surplus funds are paid into the Central Fund, which is administered by the Department of Finance, and are paid out of money provided by the Oireachtas. The Minister for Finance had the responsibility for the distribution of the national lottery fund. It is now administered by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Let us deal with every case on its merits. That is all I ask. In the past, the national lottery has been used as a slush fund. That must be challenged. This was also the case under the previous Government. I know it has been the case since I entered the Dáil in 2002. National lottery funds should be distributed on the basis of need. I have mentioned projects and places, such as Darndale and Howth, that need extra funding to kick-start the local economy. I have also mentioned sport, the arts and health, especially health of the community which is mentioned in section 5 of the 1986 Act. It is important, in an economic downturn, that we look seriously at the health of the community so that when we come out of this dark hole we will have a healthy population that is prepared to take up new forms of employment. These projects can be used for employment.

The national lottery is currently operated by An Post. It holds the licence which was put out to tender in late 2001, under the previous Government, and which An Post won following a competition held between 1999 and 2001. The licence is due to expire at the end of June 2013. A subsidiary company of An Post, An Post National Lottery Company, manages the running of the national lottery. There is a management fee for An Post National Lottery Company of approximately €2.7 million.

I was supportive of the company and was glad An Post won the licence in 2001. In much of the current debate, however, there seems to be an attitude that is anti-public sector and opposed to semi-State organisations. Some sections of the public service are efficient and progressive. They can be involved in developing the economy as much as anyone in the private sector. This is often lost in public debate, particularly in the debate on banking. It was areas of the private sector, such as banking and property development, that damaged the country to the extent that the troika had to come into the State.

Companies such as An Post have a crucial role to play in Irish society. If other State or semi-State bodies have creative or radical new ideas, let us not be afraid to develop them. Many years ago, Aer Lingus and the ESB developed our economy. We must think outside the box. Semi-State companies have significant potential to develop the economy and create jobs. This is not to say there is no role for the private sector. Of course there is.

The way forward, and this has been proved internationally, is a mixed economy. If there is a mixed, efficient, healthy public sector and a small business private sector, the whole economy can be developed in a constructive and positive way. That is my experience of life. It does not come from an ideological point of view, and we should consider it.

When we look at the amount of money involved, we see the potential of the national lottery. In 2002, sales were €533 million, with costs of €79 million, prizes of €281 million and good causes receiving €173 million. In 2011, sales were €761.4 million, with costs of €104.3 million, prizes of €422.5 million and good causes receiving €231.9 million. We could do a lot of good with that sort of money. I do not know the figures for 2012 but with a budget of €231 million, imagine what we could do. I mentioned the cost of the drug for cystic fibrosis patients, which is in the region of €20 million per year. In a crisis situation, some funds could be used to develop these situations if we are in a hole.

My only concerns in the past related to the breakdown of where the money went. The Department of Justice and Equality received 1.8%, while the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government received 36.1%. The Department of Education and Skills received a very low share, which was a surprise, while the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport received 19.4%, the Department Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht received 21.4%, the Department of Health received 3.9% and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs received 17.3%. Those figures have the potential to prioritise certain issues. We must be honest and put issues like public health and safety above any economic agenda when it comes to the State looking after its citizens. The 3.9% that is distributed to the Department of Health is very low compared with the other Departments.

In the current situation every euro and cent must be accounted for. People are crying out for accountability and efficiency. We saw the waste in the past and it was an absolute scandal. Now, everyone and all parties are agreed. Those of us who had the honour of being elected in 2011 know that at every second house when we were canvassing, we were told to go into the Dáil to fix things, do our best and be honest with people, not to be wasting things and to do our jobs. That was our mandate. They also gave us a mandate for reform and change. Any party, be it Fine Gael, the Labour Party, Sinn Féin or Independent, got that message on the doorsteps. People wanted reform, change and common sense. They did not want any petty bickering for the sake of political points scoring. I make this point because there are aspects of the legislation that are progressive and I welcome them.

The national children's hospital is an important part of this debate. The programme for Government pledges to protect health capital investment. The review delivers on that commitment and includes the funding for the development of the new national children's hospital. Reflecting the importance of this project, a large upfront payment arising from the new national lottery licence will complement Exchequer funding. That is where I go back to the national children's hospital; this is the key issue in this debate. My preferred option was the Mater Hospital site but I accept the democratic wishes of the people. It has been decided and we must go ahead.

We must get on with the job now and build the hospital because there is also huge potential in the building of the hospital. Construction costs will be in the region of €400 million to €600 million, but great opportunities exist for electricians, plumbers and other skilled construction workers, with a potential 2,750 jobs during the construction phase. That is a massive boost for any economy. The Government, however, has taken its eye of the ball recently and I worry that I have not heard much about it. I would like the Government to get on with this. I will support the national lottery being used for this funding so that the children's hospital can be built. That also fits in with the talk of a stimulus package. Dublin would get a great lift from 2,750 jobs in the middle of the city, particularly the many people I know who are unemployed in Dublin Bay North, my new constituency.

The powers of the regulator are very important. Under section 38, the regulator can appoint persons to examine generally the running of the national lottery and make recommendations to the regulator. This would appear to be separate to provisions on consultants and advisers under section 2, or disciplinary investigations. Beyond this, under section 32, where the regulator is of the opinion that there is an apparent breach by the operator or a member of the operator's staff, he can appoint an investigator. These are sensible provisions.

When it comes to sanctions, where these measures are insufficient to stop a breach, then under sections 34 and 35 there is a two-tier process of financial sanction, where either the regulator imposes a sanction of up to €250,000, or the matter is taken before the High Court. People might say that is a very serious sanction but I would agree with it because it will weed out any messing about with this legislation and with the spending of money given by people. In the past we have seen too much corruption in politics and in the last few days we have seen the massive corruption in football across the world. There is nothing wrong with heavy sanctions to deal with these issues. We must also keep an eye out for the shopkeepers. They need a break in the current climate and their margins must be protected.

I welcome this debate. The Bill has some constructive provisions and I look forward to discussing it further.

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