Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House. Fianna Fáil Senators will, of course, be supporting our independent Seanad colleagues on this issue.

The Minister has already outlined the history of the national lottery, the funding that comes from it, where that funding goes and the causes it is aimed at. I smiled wryly when I heard that the money from the sale will go to projects such as the national children's hospital. It sometimes seems that every taxation measure currently proposed is to fund some worthy cause. I often wonder where we are getting the money to pay back the banks and the loans from Europe when the reason given for everything, from the sale of the ESB to the sale of the national lottery, is that it will fund worthy causes.

I am well aware of the issues surrounding the national lottery and the money that has been allocated from its funding. My colleagues opposite might point towards sports programmes, many in their own constituencies. Indeed, Kerry was lucky enough to get a good deal of funding.