Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Conor Lenihan, and commend him on his excellent work as regards many issues that have arisen and particularly the situation in Kashmir, Pakistan and India. I encourage him to keep up the good work. While we have a great developing country we must keep in mind the problems of the Third World. The Minister of State is aware of that. The funding should be expanded for that particular tragedy. The situation there appears to be worsening in so far as I can see, and is critical.

I wish to support the motion tabled by my party in this regard. It is time we congratulated the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue and his staff in the Department on their extra work in this particular regard. Bear in mind that nothing can be done without the national lottery from where the funding comes. As a Member of the Dáil at the time, I supported the former Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy Creed, who brought the National Lottery Bill to the House. Reservations were expressed as to the possibility of people becoming hooked on gambling, but in fact it has worked out relatively well. The problems that some people expected at the time have not materialised. It was a different era. It is nearly 20 years since the Bill was enacted and we supported that particular motion at the time. The country has benefited greatly from the funding realised by the national lottery. Senator Feighan will be delighted to know that CLÁR funding is coming to Roscommon for the projects announced under the national lottery. Senator Ulick Burke's area is not being forgotten. Creggs, which is in his area, is getting additional funding as well. I will not announce that formally tonight, except to reiterate that the Senators have not been forgotten.