Results 30,761-30,780 of 34,885 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: We are ring-fencing something at last.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister elaborate on commercial sensitivity? How would the details of the licence be deemed to be commercially sensitive given that the Minister said he would publish the conditions of the licence on the eTenders website? Could he explain the difference between the tender documents, which will outline conditions, and the rules and regulations regarding the tenders people make?...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Through the Chair, such licences were for shorter periods of five to seven years initially. I ask the Minister to provide a note on the section for Report Stage.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Is it the lazy man's approach to just throw in what was done the last time?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: We have touched on an interesting point in the amendment. I ask the Minister to specify what he means by a company on Report Stage, because there are various forms of company. For example, one can have a company limited by the amount of paid up capital or one limited by guarantee. Many voluntary organisations have companies and people put their name to them. Could the Minister specify the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: This is for the licence in 2033.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: To return to the first point, I understand from what the Minister said - he can understand why I have opposed everything in connection with the regulator - that he and his Department will do all the heavy lifting.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: For this one for the next 20 years. The Minister will do all the heavy lifting, deal with the tendering process, issue the licence, specify the details, award the licence and receive the upfront payment. In terms of the regulator receiving the payment, that office will not even exist when the cheque comes in. I get that point now. Having done all the work, what is the need for a...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: The Minister indicated that he does not receive parliamentary questions on the current lottery.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: That proves how well his Department is running it or monitoring An Post's operation of it. Therefore, there is no need for a regulator. If there was some disquiet or people had queries, I could understand the Minister considering there was a need for an independent regulator. His remarks have proved that the operation is running very well, and long may it continue, under the auspices of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: The Department would have received practically none or very few. One would almost wonder if this office of a regulator is being set up because it is the fashion at the moment to set up a regulator every time there is something new like this. It comes back to the basic point.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: The Minister might explain the sequence in terms of his amendment. It states, "The Regulator may not amend ... provisions governing the payment for good causes ...". Up to now An Post or the National Lottery company collected the money and handed over the proceeds to, I understand, the Minister's Department for distribution for good causes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Sometimes the lottery grants are very specific and organisations know that but other times the lottery grants from Minister's Department are subsumed into Government Estimates as in the case of social housing. One might see an Estimate for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government with a figure for social housing and it would state, "which includes a portion funded...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: The subsection states: "The amount of levy under this section shall be decided by the Regulator." The Minister has just said that he is deleting that line and that this will be covered by the licence agreement which means that the person bidding for the licence will know the amount of the levy he or she will have to pay. I am most unhappy with that because it is bad enough setting up a new...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: This leads into a new area. What role will the Minister have in drawing up the licence agreement? Did we cover this already? The Minister will have to approve the licence. I have to draw the Minister's attention to this, the mobile telephone licences are a parallel situation. The communications regulator, not the Minister, issues the licence for the various mobile telephone companies....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Will that cover the licence for 20 years?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister clarify that point?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister set the levy in the tender?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: Will that be a public document?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: National Lottery Bill 2012: Committee Stage (27 Mar 2013)

Seán Fleming: What is the Minister's timetable? Does he expect to have all this in place before he sets up the national lottery office? I would like the Minister to just sketch in the sequence. I do not want to tie him down to specific months.