Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not believe that is right. My personal views on this matter differ from my political view on it. I would like to know the reason the Minister of State would not give credence to a dedicated draw for the national children's hospital, which is one of the most important aspects of health provision in this country. If we do not have education or health provision for children we do not even have a country. The British did this during the Olympics. I have stated many times in the debate on the sale of the national lottery licence that if we are serious about building a national children's hospital we could have done so through funding derived from a dedicated draw. I believe the Irish people would have supported it and that the hospital would long since have been built. Some of the €240 million per annum available after prize and administration costs had been met could have been used to build the children's hospital over the next three years. The Irish people would have supported it. Why was this not given credibility? Why has there been no outside-the-box thinking on this proposal, which is well proven and in respect of which the statistics indicate no other good causes would have suffered? I would like a response from the Minister of State to that question, given that stated reason for selling the licence is to obtain funding for construction of the hospital.