David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Time will tell. Trees are to be privatised. Now the national lottery is to be privatised. It comes as no surprise to me but it comes as a surprise to many of those who voted for the Labour Party and perhaps that is one of the reasons why the party is now so low in the polls.

I strongly support the core principle of the motion is that the national lottery licence must remain fully within the ownership of the State and that the benefits of the lottery must be used for the material benefit of the people. That must be the core principle of the national lottery.

The National Lottery Bill is currently going through the Dáil and my party colleague, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, has had exchanges with the Minister in the House and has put on the record our concerns about that Bill.

My problem is that the Minister has not provided a clear rationale for the proposed changes to the regulatory framework, licensing process and national lottery expenditure. Currently, one third of the income generated from national lottery's sales is allocated to good causes and community organisations rely heavily on this funding stream. As part of the new licensing arrangement, the Government is proposing to award a 20 year licence worth ¤1.2 billion without including a legislative clause to preserve the proportion of income used to fund good causes at the current level of 30%.