Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent)

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to attend the House to explain why he intends to sell the national lottery. It is a bad decision. The sale of the national lottery is a high price to pay for a front-loading of €500 million. The national lottery supports arts and sports projects which are very much a part of Irish society. Some of the young people in the Visitors Gallery will participate in many of those projects in the future.

I would not like to see the national lottery sold outside this country. I would like an explanation of why it is being sold. Why can we not keep it in this country? There might be many ways of doing so. I would like to find out why the Minister is selling it. I would like him to come to the House to explain it. Has the decision to sell the national lottery, which has served arts and sports causes so well over the years, been rubber-stamped in the Department? Will it be decided with a stroke of a pen or will we be allowed to play a part in it?