Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Let me go back to first principles again. This licence is due to be renewed. We have to tender for the licence in any event. We could do it in the traditional way we have done it to date or we can do it in an upfront payment way. I am a social democrat, as Senators know, but I do not regard business and making a profit as a dirty occupation. Obviously whoever is successful in this will expect a return for their investment. Nobody argues with that. However, we have controlled the things we want to control. The bigger the lotto is, the more likely they will get a substantially better return on their investment, but also the bigger the flow of money will be to good causes, because that is a fixed percentage.

I listened to Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú on the last occasion. He rowed in behind the Senator’s view that we should have a dedicated lottery. There are plenty of arguments about having a game devoted entirely to the national children’s hospital for the next 20 years and borrowing money against it. Such a development would impact on the funds available for good causes. There is a finite sum of money. If one were to take away a large chunk of it to fund the national children’s hospital, funding for the Irish language, sporting and other causes would be squeezed. I am trying to square a circle to hold on to funding and increase it in order that all of the organisations that depend on it will continue to have an income stream and that we will have a robust and good lottery that people will continue to support. Would I be better off not doing it at all and borrowing the money? We could do it through a public private partnership, but it would not be done in the timeframe we envisage. It would mean other projects of substance would be knocked off the list. I could replace the whole Grangegorman project and it would not be enough in itself.