John Gilroy (Labour)

There are also anomalies in the proportion of funding allocated to certain counties such as Donegal, Offaly and Kildare. I must acknowledge a certain former Minister in Waterford who resisted the temptation to do so. Senator Darragh O'Brien's reference to freedom of information requests has given me an idea to submit some requests covering the last few years.

The national lottery reached a significant milestone in 2008, when the cumulative funds raised for good causes reached the figure of €3 billion, which increased to €4 billion in 20011. This is an enormous amount of money and the good done is probably incalculable since the national lottery was established 25 years ago. Most people are familiar with the benefits accruing in the areas of sport and recreation which come within the remit of the sports capital grants section, but not so many know about the benefits accruing in other areas such as youth, health, welfare, the arts, culture, national heritage and the Irish language. There is not a single community which has not benefited from the national lottery. We can all agree that this is a valuable resource for every community and that whatever we do, we must ensure this element of the programme is protected. I am sure this has been factored in.

The scale of the operation of the national lottery cannot be underestimated. In 2011, in the middle of the worst financial crisis ever to hit the country, €761 million was raised by national lottery products, of which €423 million was awarded in prizes. To put this in perspective, this morning, NAMA announced a stimulus package of €2 billion, yet three quarters of a billion euro is recycled into the economy every year by the national lottery. This illustrates the public good done by the national lottery.

We note that the national lottery in the United Kingdom has been run by a private company for the past 17 years. The licence there comes up for renewal at regular intervals and is put out to tender, subject to the same strict legal requirements proposed for Ireland. The Government is proposing to put the national lottery out to tender for a longer period than in the United Kingdom. I note the Minister's comments on that. I wonder why the longer period is deemed more appropriate here.

I also note that the company running the UK national lottery is specifically charged with maximising returns to society in the most responsible and cost effective way. National lotteries are seen as good investments, as has been noted by other speakers. Their benefits are often compared with those of running public utility companies. This is due to the regular income streams generated by lotteries. It is interesting to note that the owner of the operating company in the United Kingdom is the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. That lottery provides regular steady and not exorbitant profits. If there were exorbitant profits to be made from lotteries, pension plans would be outbid by hedge funds for the contracts to run them. The responsible running of the lottery in the UK is seen to be a good thing.

The figures quoted by Senator O'Brien may not be fully correct. A breakdown of the revenue and cost of the lottery in the UK is as follows. For every pound collected, 50 pence goes to the prize fund, 28 pence to good causes, compared with 30% in Ireland, 12 pence goes to the UK Government, five pence to the retailer and five pence to the operators, of which four and a half pence goes in operating costs, leaving a profit of half a penny per pound. That is not an exorbitant profit, but it is being claimed by some speakers that we are proposing to sell the national lottery licence to a gang of multinational speculators who are coming into the country to asset strip the lotto, and perhaps asset strip the country. That is not the case. That kind of hyperbole is no more than scaremongering or misunderstanding.

I have been involved in many community projects that received support from the National Lottery and I am acutely aware that virtually none of these worthwhile projects, ranging from playing pitches to arts programmes and innovative community health programmes would have gone ahead without the support of the National Lottery.

The proceeds of the sale of the National Lottery licence will go towards the construction of the children's hospital, which is badly needed. The hospital's building schedule is badly overrun, but let us not open the argument about the siting of the hospital at this time. It gives a real sense of how the recession is affecting the lives of everyone in the country that we are taking this route. If we take care, we can achieve the policy objectives of building our national children's hospital and securing the future of the national lottery and the public good that grows from it. We have seen how our neighbouring island has managed to run an equitable lottery system where public good accrues to the state in the form of supports for good causes and a Government duty.

The Minister proposes that a front-loaded sum will accrue to the State on the sale of the licence. In the United Kingdom, there is a 12% accrual each year from the lottery. Has the Minister factored that into his considerations? If not, can he explain the logic of not including it?

I have much more to say on this subject. I wish the Minister well. I have every confidence that he will manage the sale well and that it will benefit the country by creating a vital infrastructural project and running a fair, equitable and responsible lottery.