Minister McGrath's speech at the National Lottery Good Causes Awards 2022

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Good evening.

I am delighted to join with you this evening to recognise and celebrate the finalists of the National Lottery Good Causes Awards.

Right across the country, the quality of life in our communities is enhanced by the dedication and impactful work of so many across a range of areas including sport and recreation, culture and heritage, community health, the arts, and youth affairs.

The players of the National Lottery enable €0.30 in every €1 to the Good Causes fund which supports this work – making a difference.

Since the National Lottery commenced operations in 1987, almost €6 billion has been raised for Good Causes.

In 2021 the National Lottery Fund transferred €289 million to the Good Causes Fund , a significant 14% increase on 2020. This is a record amount under the license commenced by Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) in 2014.

As agreed by Government, I commissioned an independent, external review to explore potential policy options to help provide a more transparent and effective model for distributing National Lottery. One of the key inputs to the report is a review and report on examples of systems used in other jurisdictions for the allocation of Lottery funding.

Indecon Consultants were commissioned to support the department in a review of the transparency and effectiveness of how National Lottery funding is distributed, to ensure that it is best targeted to support good causes.

The work on finalising and submitting the report is close to completion. I understand that the report will be available for my consideration in the near future. I will bring the report to Government and publish it thereafter.

I am conscious that many of you in this room will be all too aware of the impact of the increased energy bills.

In my Budget speech this week, I made €60 million available in 2022 to ease the pressure for the not-for-profit and voluntary organisations in the Arts, Sports, Gaeltacht and the Community and Voluntary sector. The working is ongoing to get the framework for this assistance in place in the next few weeks to ensure that these sectors benefit this year.

To each of you here tonight, your organisations and groups and everyone involved in these sectors who ensure that the Good Causes Funding has such a positive impact on our communities – we deeply value your contribution.