Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent)

I want it to stay with the Irish citizen, the Irish State and the Irish Government. I also consider it a different kind of asset. I do not consider it a grid or a bog, which I nearly broke my shoulder on last week, or like electricity or pipelines. I consider it to be personal, private, people and voluntary, and to be euro being taken out of their suits, trousers and purses. My argument is that we could come up with a better way of funding the children's hospital and we should sit down and try to do that. I do not agree with the sale. I have a right as a Senator not to agree with the sale. I would like to tell Senator Michael D'Arcy that I think long and hard about what I have the privilege to say in the House. I am against profitability and I am against the profitability going out of the State. I did not talk about transparency regarding Exchequer or national lottery funding and the disadvantaged. I talked about profit. None of the Senators against the argument would argue for that. It is about a profit of €50 million per year leaving the country when it could be kept here. We should be very clear about it. I did not talk about sport, culture, health or youth but I understand that they are the heartbeat of the national lottery even though I do not think its funding distribution is equitable. I talked about profit over 20 years for whomever comes up with the €500 million and I want it to be us. I want the person that owns the national lottery to be us.