Results 8,321-8,340 of 20,088 for speaker:Brian Stanley
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: We accept the figures we have been given by Ms Boate. I want to separate two matters. One is that from the operation of the lottery and in terms of what is claimed and everything else, we know that between 27% and 28.5% goes to good causes. We accept that. We will park that for a minute. I am asking a different question about unclaimed prize money. There is more than €20 million...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: I have looked at the accounts for two years of Premier Lotteries Ireland. I will come back to that in a minute.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: I have looked at Premier Lotteries Ireland. I will come back to that. I am sure it has an advertising budget within that without going near the unclaimed prize money.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: It would have. It has substantial administration. I will come to that in a second. Ms Boate has read the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the national lottery.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: Is she aware that the operator may have threatened the Comptroller and Auditor General legally to block the publication of the report? Is that correct?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: Okay. Apparently there are reports of that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: Okay. How long has Ms Boate been aware of the substantial unclaimed prize money of €20 million a year. Is she aware of that year-on-year?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: She is. Okay.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: The terms of the licence are what they are but I find it strange that the regulator's office did not highlight this at any point in the past six years and try to change matters so that money would go in a different direction.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: Would that not have been good information to have out there for the public who play the national lottery and fund it?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: Hold on a second. The advertising for the national lottery is saturation advertising. The operator is not so short of money for advertising that it needs to get 98% of unclaimed prizes to do it. That is not a credible answer. I will come to the operator's accounts in a minute. It has substantial funding in respect of its operational costs. It is not credible that it would also need 98%...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: The UK has a population of 68 million.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: We have a population in this State of just over 5 million.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: I concur with what has been said by other members regarding "shall" and "may". I and others are clear as to the meaning of "shall" when it is used in legislation, regulation or wherever else, whether at local authority level or national level. There is a public credibility issue in respect of the 98% and the 2%, with 98% being used on promotion, which is funding the saturation advertising...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: You may. Go ahead.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: I am aware of that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: I am aware of that but it is an extreme interpretation of it by any standard. There is a public credibility issue with it in terms of the information that is coming out here and has come out in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the matter.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: You may, of course.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: I ask Mr. Donohoe to hold that point over. I am going to come to it. He can come back in later. I take the point he is making, and I thank him for making it. I will come back to it later.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2021: National Lottery Fund (24 Nov 2022)
Brian Stanley: Deputy Carroll MacNeill is back in attendance and I want her to come back in. We have the answer about the numbers.