Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of national lottery income by quarter for each year since 2007; the amount disbursed under each heading in each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45864/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Lottery Act 1986 provides that the surplus generated by the National Lottery be transferred to the Exchequer. The surplus is the total income from lottery sales after deduction of prizes and allowable costs. The surplus for each of the years 2007 to 2009 is as follows: 2007 €245m 2008 €268m 2009 €264m

Section 5 of the National Lottery Act 1986 provides that the surplus from the National Lottery may be used for the following purposes: sport and other recreation; national culture, including the Irish Language; the arts, within the meaning of the Arts Act 1951; the health of the community; and for such other purposes as the Government may determine. The following additional categories have been so determined: youth, welfare, national heritage and amenities.

In order to give effect to this statutory provision, the surplus form the National Lottery is transferred to the Exchequer on a regular basis and is applied to each year to part-fund the Exchequer allocations to a specified range of expenditure subheads across various Votes. Since 2005, the allocations for the relevant subheads exceed the amount available from the National Lottery surplus. Each year, the amount transferred to the Exchequer form the National Lottery surplus, together with details of the total Exchequer allocations to the relevant subheads are set out in Appendix 1 of the annual "Revised Estimates for Public Services".