John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will speak in favour of the legislation and welcome its introduction. Before I refer to it, though, I will discuss the origins of the national lottery. Its establishment was not without political opposition in the 1980s. I acknowledge the role played by a Deputy of many years who was also a Minister of State, Donal Creed. He brought to the then Cabinet a memo on the establishment of a national lottery. He was a Minister of State at the Department of Education with special responsibility for sport.

I remember because a photograph of him is still in place where I used to go to school to commemorate the opening of an extension by him at the time. It was a move that was opposed by many at the time, but as every speaker to the legislation has pointed out, the national lottery itself has been a tremendous success, in particular in terms of the funds raised. It is not just a question of funds that have been raised and distributed to sporting organisations, which are important and have been most welcome, but also funds distributed to groups such as those to which Deputy Terence Flanagan referred, in addition to health care providers, which have provided much needed facilities in my own part of the world such as respite for families of children with autism, for example. The latter group is based in Waterford and covers Waterford and south Kilkenny. The effects of the national lottery have been most positive in that regard.

The purpose of the legislation we are discussing this evening is to allow for a new licence for the lottery to be published, allowing for new terms and for a new competition to take place. The Government’s freedom as to who administers the lottery is affected in the sense that it must be a full public process and cannot be limited to the State or an agency of the State, as was the case heretofore in terms of the operation of the lottery.

Opposition Members have said that is bad. I disagree. It is a positive development that an open competition will be held for interested parties to tender for the future provision of the national lottery. I was also struck by the number of Members of the Opposition who spoke in support of the lottery and its good causes and effects, but decried the fact that it promotes gambling. They cannot have their cake and eat it. It is either one thing or the other. One can look to examples around the world of services provided as a result of moneys gained from national lotteries. The experience worldwide has mostly been positive. That is not to underestimate the difficulties posed by gambling and the addiction to it for individuals and families in this country and elsewhere. By any measure the national lottery has been successful in the objectives set out in its initiation in the National Lottery Act 1986.

The Bill aims to provide a legislative framework for the operation of the lottery, protecting and safeguarding the integrity of the lottery and the establishment of a regulator to ensure that whoever wins the competition adheres to the principles which were enunciated in the original legislation in 1986, that the lottery would be run for the benefit of the people and causes in communities right across the country. That is something I fully support and welcome.

I also support the point made by Deputy Terence Flanagan about the terms of the new competition. The current national lottery scheme stemmed from a competition dating to the turn of the millennium. We have had previous competitions. In the future the competition will be more broadly based and will give the opportunity to the Exchequer to get an upfront payment of a substantial amount for, as Deputy Terence Flanagan outlined, the provision of the national children’s hospital, which could only be considered as positive and has been sought by many Members of this House previously. I would welcome such use of lottery funding.

I will conclude by outlining the often maligned position politicians have and point out that it was a politician, namely, Mr. Donal Creed, who is still hale and hearty, whose brainchild was the development of the national lottery. Thanks are due to him that the initiative has proven such a success.

See this speech in context