Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The third objective is to provide a new national lottery regulator, which shall be funded by the national lottery operator and be independent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Fourth, it will set out certain principles regarding the regulation of the national lottery, such as the circumstances in which a licence may be amended or revoked. A number of amendments were made to the Bill during its passage through the Dáil. For example, the natural environment has been added to the list of good causes which may receive national lottery funding. However, none of the amendments made impact on the fundamental purposes of the Bill.

The national lottery commenced operating 26 years ago. In that time, the lottery has raised some €4 billion for good causes. It has also maintained the support of the general public, which is crucial to the success of a State lottery. There has never been any issue with the integrity, probity or ethos of the national lottery. There may be different views regarding the future of the national lottery but there is almost universal consensus that the lottery has been an outstanding success since its establishment. Inevitably, the national lottery has been affected by the economic downturn of recent years. Nevertheless, the lottery has proven itself to be resilient and it continues to generate a very significant surplus for the State each year. This surplus is used to fund a range of good causes in every part of the country. I wish to emphasise that the provision of annual funding for good causes will continue to be central to the arrangements for the next licence.

The present licence to operate the national lottery was granted to An Post National Lottery Company in late 2001 and is due to expire later this year. Following an examination of the various options by my Department, the Government agreed in April 2012 that the following arrangements will apply to the next national lottery licence: there will be a competitive process for the award of the licence, which will be for a period of 20 years; the terms of the next licence will include an upfront payment to the State which will help fund the new national children's hospital; and the next licence will involve the ongoing provision of a significant level of funding for good causes each year.

I wish to emphasise at the outset of this debate that I do not have any discretion regarding whether or not to hold a competition for the next national lottery licence. Under EU law, the State is obliged to hold a competition for the next licence. However, the State may set the terms of both the competition and the licence itself, such as the duration of the licence and the financial arrangements that underpin it. The fact that I am legally obliged to hold a competition may have been overlooked by one or two contributors to the debates in the Dáil, who seemed to be under the impression that the Minister, Deputy Howlin, could simply award the next licence to whomsoever pleased him without having to hold a competition. Neither the Minister nor I have that option and a competition for the current licence was held between 1999 and 2001. Therefore, this will not be the first time for the State to hold a competition for the national lottery licence.

I do not need to remind Senators of the difficult economic issues we face. This is something which I think is sometimes lost sight of in debates on this issue. Given the present budgetary position, the Government needs to be innovative and creative where opportunities arise to generate additional resources for the State. All parties are agreed that the national children's hospital should be built and that the resources to build it have to be found. Therefore, the Government has decided to take advantage of the expiry of the current lottery licence to provide for new arrangements for the next licence, which will involve an up-front payment to the State.

Despite what was claimed in this House during a previous debate on this issue, the national lottery is not being "sold". A competition will take place for a 20-year licence to operate the national lottery on behalf of the State, which will involve an up-front payment. A number of Deputies and Senators have made the suggestion that the money could be raised through holding a series of special lottery draws to raise funds for the hospital. However, as I have frequently pointed out, such an initiative would simply involve much less funding for good causes, such as sport and recreation, health in the community, or arts and heritage. We are all aware of the enormous benefit of such funding to individuals and communities in every part of the country. Many examples of such projects have been cited recently, for example, by Members of this House during our debate last February. The Government is determined that any initiative to raise funding for the national children's hospital will not be at the expense of good causes. The Government's approach involves an up-front payment and the safeguarding of annual funding for good causes.

When I announced the Government's decision regarding the next licence in April 2012, the intention was that the building of the national children's hospital would commence in the near future. Developments since have meant that the timescale for the hospital has been put back. A question has been raised, and quite legitimately so, in ensuring that funding from the up-front payment will be safeguarded for the hospital. During the debate on this Bill on Committee Stage in the other House, the Minister gave a formal commitment that when the competition for the next national lottery licence is concluded and the Exchequer is in receipt of the up-front payment, he will revert to that committee on the arrangements for the up-front payment. I wish to reiterate, in case of any doubt, that the intention remains for part of the up-front payment to be used to help finance the national children's hospital.

With regard to the competition itself, the competitive process will be undertaken by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It is envisaged that the competition for the next licence will commence during May, with the process likely to run until September 2013, at which stage a preferred bidder will be chosen. It is expected that the up-front payment will be made towards the end of the year. It is envisaged that the new 20-year licence will commence in 2014, subject to transitional arrangements.

Much of the Bill replicates the National Lottery Act 1986, which it is intended to replace. However, the Bill also contains important new provisions, such as those in the area of regulation. As well as dealing with the national lottery, the Bill also provides for a number of amendments to the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956. I am not going to go into the detailed provisions of the Bill as there are many people who may wish to make a contribution. People can see in the circulated document a detailed assessment of each of the sections.

We must be innovative and creative in how we use State resources for purposes which people believe to be important. Even in difficult times we can carry out very significant infrastructural projects. It is arguable that a new tertiary paediatric hospital should have been built during the good times, were it not for the to-ing and fro-ing that occurred. Even in the teeth of a recession, with such a challenging budgetary position, we can still do really important things. The late former Taoiseach, Mr. Haughey, more than anybody proved that in difficult times we can get extraordinary developments over the line. I am thinking of the Irish Financial Services Centre and Temple Bar, for example. That is the template we must follow, with the public finances in a very difficult position.

The Minister, Deputy Howlin, on behalf of the Government, wants to use part of the up-front payment for the purposes of a new national children's hospital. It will look to bring together excellence for children in a small country, which will have significant support around the country. If we use the assets we have by means of the licence to be put in place for the next 20 years, we will be able to part-fund that significant development.