Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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320. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to restore national lottery funding for work on the natural environment as per section 41(1) of the National Lotteries Act 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28937/15]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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321. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the funding allocated from national lottery funding for work on the natural environment as per section 41(1) of the National Lotteries Act 2013 in 2013, 2014 and in 2015 to date; his plans to promote funding available for work on the environment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28938/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 320 and 321 together.

The National Lottery provides funds for "Good Causes" in accordance with the National Lottery Act 2013.  The areas to be funded are set out under section 41 (1) of the National Lottery Act. They include:

- sport and recreation,

- national culture and heritage (including the Irish language),

- the arts (within the meaning of the Arts Act, 2003),

- the health of the community,

- youth, welfare and amenities, and

- the natural environment (added in the 2013 Act).

The Act also provides that the proceeds may be applied to such (if any) other purposes as the Government may determine from time to time.

A breakdown by Department of all the expenditure areas that are supported by the proceeds of the National Lottery is set out in Appendix 1 of the annual Revised Estimates for Public Services (available at ). Funding is provided through expenditure subheads which form part of Departmental Programmes. For over a decade, the total allocation for these subheads has exceeded the amount available from the National Lottery. These subheads are described as being part-funded by the National Lottery and the balance of the expenditure allocation for the subheads comes from normal Exchequer sources (e.g. tax revenue or borrowing).

The 2013 Act provided for a new areathe Natural Environmentto be added to the list of categories that may be funded by the Lottery.However, to date, lottery money has not been applied to this area.  Decisions on lottery funding for the Natural Environment are being considered in the context of the level of funds available for Good Causes in the relevant year.