Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Senator Ward made some good points and I agree with much of what he said. Something that struck me, and it was in the newspapers quite recently, is that €90 million of unclaimed lottery moneys was reinvested in advertising over the past six years. This is a frightening figure. All this money could be going back into sports facilities and everything else. You are knocked down with lottery advertisements if you turn on RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2 or TV3. The amount of advertising for the lottery is just ferocious.

I made the point here before that I find stopping what is a family event on a Saturday evening, namely, the family film on RTÉ 1, to broadcast the lottery draw is downright disgusting. The lottery has enough to answer for without encouraging kids watching the family film. It talks about what it is doing, about regulation and so forth, but to me a certain amount of that is puppy tears when one sees what it is at and the way it carries on its business. To stop a family film and to show a lottery draw is corrupt. That would not go on anywhere else.

If someone is at home watching racing during the day, it is very unlikely their kids are going to sit and watch it. If kids are watching a film and if there is a break in the middle of it for the lottery draw, seeing mammy and daddy checking their lotto numbers is totally wrong. The lottery has a lot to answer for. It also has a lot to answer for around how it is spending its money. That figure I quoted and all the money that has been spent and all the sports-----