THE Government has made an eve-of-election allocation of £7.8 million in National Lottery funds, telling Government deputies first in order to allow them to claim credit in their constituencies.
The Minister of State for Education, Mr Bernard Allen, wrote this week to Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left deputies telling them which projects in their constituencies received grants. The deputies received the happy tidings in letters to their Leinster House offices on Wednesday afternoon.
Letters to Fianna Fail and PD deputies did not arrive until yesterday morning.
Mr Allen told The Irish Times that this was simply an annual allocation, and was not a special election bonanza. The annual allocation to sport and recreation clubs is, however, normally made in the autumn.
When asked about the curious change in timing, Mr Allen explained that "more efficient structures" under the National Plan had allowed the early announcement. A suggestion that the election might have been as relevant as these "more efficient structures was rejected by Mr Allen as a cynical construction.
He explained frankly why Government deputies had been informed first. "Well, you don't think I was going to tell the Fianna Fail deputies first," he said.
It has been standard practice for successive governments to inform their own deputies of lottery allocations in their constituencies in advance of public announcements. Deputies often write to the successful applicants giving them the good news and suggesting that they played a major role in securing funding for them.
They also issue press releases to the local media to show how much they have "delivered" to their constituencies. Fianna Fail sources said yesterday that such announcements were being broadcast on local radio yesterday.
The £7.8 million has been allocated under the sports and recreation scheme administered by the Department of Education. The scheme received 1,400 applications for funding totalling £49 million. Dail deputies lobby intensively for funding for projects in their constituencies.
The Department of Education would not give details of the allocations yesterday on the grounds that some of the clubs receiving money had not been informed yet.