Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD, today welcomed the Judgment on the Judicial Review brought by the Rehab Group and Rehab Lotteries in relation to the decision, taken by the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter TD, to wind down the Charitable Lotteries Scheme.
Minister Fitzgerald said, ‘I am pleased that Minister Shatter’s decision to phase out the Charitable Lotteries Scheme, and my Department’s implementation of that decision, has been vindicated. This decision was not arrived at lightly or quickly. It was taken because of the urgent need to make savings in Government expenditure. Beneficiaries were advised in October 2012 that the Scheme would be phased out on a gradual basis, over three years, with the first reduction only taking effect in late 2013. It was done in this way in order to give affected organisations as much time as possible to adjust to the change. My hope is that the organisations involved will use this time to increase the funding they receive through other fundraising projects.’
5 June 2014
ENDS
Note for Editors
Charitable Lotteries Scheme
The Charitable Lotteries Scheme was established in 1997 by the Minister for Finance. This non-statutory Scheme enables charitable lotteries whose products are in direct competition with National Lottery products to supplement their charitable income with funding drawn primarily from the National Lottery surplus, but with some of the fund drawn from the Exchequer.
Administration of the Scheme was transferred to the Department of Justice and Equality from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in June 2011. Shortly before the transfer, the total funding available under the Scheme was reduced from €8.6m in 2010, to €6m in 2011. Following the transfer and a review of these payments by the Department of Justice and Equality, the Minister for Justice and Equality announced his decision in 2012 to phase out the Scheme over a period of three years, with no further payments to be made after 2015.
The schedule for the phase out of the Scheme is as follows:
2012 Total available fund: €6m (unchanged from 2011)
2013 Total available fund: €4m
2014 Total available fund: €2m
2015 Total available fund: €1m
2016 Nil
In November 2012, the Rehab Group and Rehab Lotteries Ltd, who received over €3.9m under the Scheme in 2012, brought judicial review proceedings against the decision by the Minister to phase out the Scheme. These proceedings were defended by the State and a hearing was held in the High Court in July 2013. Judgment in the case was given today (30 May 2014).