Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 154: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he or his Department approved of the involvement of the national lottery in discussions with the Sonas consortium relating to a proposed casino in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33327/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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No request for such approval has been presented to me since my appointment as Minister for Finance. However, as the Deputy will be aware from my response last week (Dáil Question No. 87 answered on 6 December 2007), in February 1998, the Chairman of the National Lottery Company wrote to the Department of Finance about the Company's intention to go into a 12-month non-disclosure agreement with Sonas Centre Ltd, stating that Sonas had "expressed an interest in considering the NLC [the National Lottery Company] in some role in relation to casino gaming and for this to be evaluated by the parties, a non-disclosure agreement is necessary". Having considered the matter, and with the agreement of the then Minister, the Department replied in March 1998 informing the National Lottery Company that it would have no objection to the National Lottery Company's entering the agreement.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 155: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if officials of his Department ever attended meetings with representatives of the national lottery and the Sonas consortium relating to a proposed casino in north Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33328/07]

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 210: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the meetings his Department officials had with representatives of Sonas or Ogden in 1990 to 1994 inclusive to discuss the location of a casino in the Phoenix Park, Dublin; and if these meetings took place, if a person (details supplied) attended. [34327/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 210 together.

I am advised by my Department that the only relevant report on file in my Department concerns a meeting on 7 November 1995, between a promoter of the Vector Ogden/Sonas proposal and Department officials. This dealt with the general remit of the Task Force then examining the pros and cons of licensing casinos, and not with particular proposals.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 156: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if any reports of meetings between the national lottery and the Sonas consortium relating to a proposed casino in north Dublin were submitted to him; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33329/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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No such reports have been submitted to me since I was appointed other than reports arising from recent questions and enquiries into what transpired during the 1990s.