Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if steps have been take to ensure that National Lottery funds are allocated on a fair and transparent basis and that there are no questions arising as to whether of not any political influence was brought to bear on those decisions or any bias towards constituencies with Ministers, in view of studies that have suggested otherwise (details supplied); if he will ensure that the manner in which grants are announced is also on the basis of fair and transparent system of allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17506/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The surplus generated by the National Lottery is transferred annually to the Exchequer and is applied to part-fund the Exchequer allocations to a specified range of expenditure subheads across various Votes.

The amount transferred to the Exchequer from the National Lottery surplus, together with details of the total Exchequer allocations to the relevant Lottery supported subheads, are published each year in Appendix 1 of the annual Revised Estimates for Public Services (REV) which gives a breakdown of allocations by programme. It is important to note that these programmes are only part-funded by the Lottery and that the remaining expenditure comes from general Exchequer funding. In 2012, for example, total expenditure under subheads that are part-funded by the National Lottery is estimated at 339 million euro. It is estimated that this expenditure will be part-funded by 220 million euro from the National Lottery with the balance coming from the Exchequer.

While as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have responsibility both for overall public expenditure and for regulating the National Lottery, neither I or my Department has a role in assessing applications for grants that are provided by other Departments and Agencies from subheads part-funded by the surplus from the National Lottery. However, I would stress that expenditure from such subheads is subject to the same controls and procedures that apply to voted expenditure generally, for example the requirements for the sanction of my Department and the availability of accounts for inspection by the Comptroller and Auditor General.