Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I wish to raise the issue of the national lottery grants because I was away at the time of the announcement of this year's allocations. I was actually in Brazil, at a sporting occasion, trying to keep up to date with football and making sure that I did not fall behind. I was delighted that members of the media missed me while I was away. That was appreciated.

On the question of the national lottery grants, I am not pointing the finger at the Minister of State because I know that he divided up the money in an even fashion between the various counties. Nonetheless, there are two organisations in Wexford which were very disappointed with the end result. After last year's grants disbursement, I spoke to the Minister of State about the fact that I was led to believe that the computer system would inform applicants if they did not complete their applications correctly. I understood that applicants would be told automatically that their applications were not completed properly. Obviously I misunderstood the Minister of State at the time because that is not what happened. The Minister of State is probably familiar with the two cases to which I refer. The Wexford Football League did not send a letter with its application stating that it did not need planning permission to develop playing surfaces. We all know that planning permission is not required for playing surfaces so that organisation could be forgiven for thinking that a letter stating same was not required. Members of that organisation would have taken for granted that the State body would have known that planning permission was not required, but the league's application was turned down on that basis. A different sporting organisation was successful in its funding application but it has since transpired that it does not own its pitch. That organisation has now run into problems in that regard. That is a different issue, however, and I believe that every sporting organisation in this country deserves more help than it gets from the State. I am not going to differentiate between sports because every sport has value and every single sporting organisation adds massive value to society. All I am looking for here is a level playing field in terms of the competition for funding.

The other grant applicant I wish to refer to is the North End United Football Club, a very progressive football club in Wexford town. The club caters for kids from the less well-off areas of Wexford town and does so very well. Its application was turned down because the folio number was missing. As I said last year, it is probably possible to find a fault in almost every application. Those in the North End United Football Club feel very hard done by because the system seems to be a bit unfair. I was not here at the time of the announcement of the successful grant applications and wished to make those points to the Minister of State on behalf of the Wexford Football League and the North End United Football Club.

As I have said before in the House, I do not understand the logic of the State spending more than €3 billion every year dealing with alcohol abuse. I am not sure exactly how much money the State spends on sport on an annual basis but I believe it is somewhere in the region of €40 million.

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