£42m NI cash diverted to Olympics

Lottery money will go towards paying for the Olympics

About £42m of lottery cash earmarked for good causes in NI is being diverted to pay for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Arts, community groups and sporting bodies are among those affected by the re-allocation of the cash.

The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure said £28.7m of the total would come from the Big Lottery Fund.

Sports Minister Edwin Poots said he was concerned about the situation, but that Northern Ireland was "suffering" like Scotland, Wales and the other regions.

The Department for Culture Media and Sport in London takes the lead in responsibility for the National Lottery.

Mr Poots said: "We will be losing this £42m over four financial years, £10m a year that Northern Ireland was previously getting and which it isn't going to get and that is a matter of deep concern and it is something that we have to compete for within the block budget."

The Sports Council is one of those groups affected.

Its chairman Eric Saunders said they would lose £4.2m between 2009-13, a third of its lottery budget. He urged the Stormont executive to make up the shortfall.

The initial estimate for staging the Games was £2.35bn

"It affects us both in participation terms and performance... new pitches, new pavilions and so on are going to be hit in a damaging way," he said.

"We also have a number of sports development officers in local district councils, these are going to be cut back dramatically.

"Our programmes for talented athletes are going to be cut as well."

Mr Poots confirmed that the decision had been taken at Westminster level and it was "not something that we can do anything about".

He said an extra £210m was needed in the sports and arts sectors over the next decade.

"I am going to be making a very strong pitch within the Northern Ireland block budget for both sports and arts to improve the funding of both those sectors," he said.