Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 110: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide details of the arrangements that applied when the existing national lottery licence was awarded to An Post; in particular, if he will provide details of the tendering arrangements and the nature of the terms and conditions that applied to the licence; if he plans to publicly tender the licence when it falls for due for renewal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35325/11]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The National Lottery was established in 1986 and its legislative basis is the National Lottery Act of that year. An Post was awarded the first ten year licence to operate the National Lottery in 1986 and it established a subsidiary company, An Post National Lottery Company, for this purpose. The first licence was originally due to expire in 1996 but in 1993 the then Minister for Finance issued a new licence which ran from 1994 until 2000 and was subsequently extended to the end of 2001.

The Department of Finance held a competition for a new licence between 1999 and 2001. This competition consisted of two stages. The first stage commenced with the publication of a notice in the national press in July 1999 seeking expressions of interest from interested parties. Three applications were received and all three applicants were subsequently deemed suitable to participate in the second and substantive stage of the competition. Two of these applicants subsequently withdrew leaving the existing licence holder, An Post National Lottery Company, as the sole remaining applicant. The licence was awarded to An Post National Lottery Company in June 2001 with the final licence being signed on behalf of the Minister for Finance in December 2001. This new licence commenced on 1 January 2002 and was due to expire at the end of 2008. It was subsequently extended until the end 2011.

The Government recently announced that the licence is to be extended by a further eighteen months, until the end of June 2013, to allow for the holding of a competition for a new licence. The precise arrangements for this competition are currently under consideration and I expect to be in a position to bring a proposal to Government early in 2012.

The current licence was drawn up pursuant to the provisions of the National Lottery Act 1986. It is operated by An Post National Lottery Company on a cost recovery basis and in return for an annual management fee which is paid to An Post. The management fee may not exceed €2.993 million. The licence provides a regulatory framework for the holding of the Lottery by the Company and covers areas such as advertisement, security, equipment and systems, and payments by the Company to the Exchequer.