Ulster lottery bombshell

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Good causes lose £42m to fund 2012 Olympics

Friday, August 17, 2007

By David Gordon

More than £40m is to be siphoned away from good causes in Northern Ireland to help pay for the London Olympics, the Stormont Government has disclosed.

And the looming re-allocation of Lottery cash has sparked deep fears about the impact on community, arts, sports and heritage projects across the province.

The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) has given the Belfast Telegraph a breakdown of the funding switch planned for the period 2009-2012.

An estimated total of £42.13m is involved, of which £28.7m will come from the Big Lottery Fund, the largest distributor of lottery money.

Stormont has no say on the National Lottery and hundreds of millions of pounds are also being redirected from good causes in GB.

A DCAL spokeswoman said the Department for Culture Media and Sport in London has the lead Government responsibility for Lottery matters.

She added: " The then Secretary of State for Culture, Tessa Jowell, announced on March 15, 2007, that an additional contribution from the Lottery of £675m is required over the four years 2009 to 2012 for the 2012 London Olympic Games. This is over and above a previously announced figure of £410m.

" In Northern Ireland this means a direct loss to the non-Olympic good causes of £42.13m over the period 2009-2012.

"Each distributor will, based on the existing share of Lottery proceeds, contribute: Big Lottery Fund - £28.7m; Heritage Lottery Fund - £4.83m; Arts Council of Northern Ireland - £4.5m; Sport Northern Ireland - £4.1m."

Stormont DCAL Minister Edwin Poots has told the Assembly that the Big Lottery Fund has given commitments on future funding to the voluntary and community sectors.

It has stated that current programmes will not be " materially affected" by the diversion of money to the Olympics.

In addition, it has pledged to maintain its voluntary and community sector funding for 2009-2012 to the levels expected before the funding diversion, Mr Poots added.

The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action is nevertheless deeply concerned.

The umbrella group's chief executive Seamus McAleavey said its concern about Lottery funding had turned to "dismay" as the sums being transferred to the Olympics grew.

"This means less money for organisations in Northern Ireland that are struggling to create a better society, especially for people suffering poverty and exclusion," he added.

"Few people realise that only 28 pence out of every pound spent on the Lottery goes to good causes, so this squeeze is very painful for charities.

"The government takes 12p in tax from every Lottery pound and could help by diverting some of that money to good causes, at least until after the Olympics."

The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society today hit out at the implications of a "dramatic reduction" in Heritage Lottery Fund cash.

The Society said many significant historic building preservation schemes here depend on this source of funding.

A spokesperson added: "The question must be asked - why should our local built heritage be punished when the benefits to Northern Ireland from the Olympics will be negligible?"

DCAL has established a Northern Ireland Olympic Task Force, with the goal of delivering local gains from 2012.

Earlier this month, Mr Poots said the Olympics offered the province the chance to develop world-class sporting facilities and £53m had been " provisionally allocated" in support of this aim.

Hopes have also been expressed about Olympic events being staged here, and that a team could use Northern Ireland as a training base.