Mr. Eoin Dorgan:

Deputy Martin Kenny said the banks would be eager to transfer the items and I believe he is correct. They would prefer to get rid of many of them because there is an opportunity cost in storing them. One of our concerns is that we do not allow the banks an easy avenue to offload to the State the problems that come with them in establishing who is the heir or successor. The models used in other member states would be useful. The examples Mr. Connolly cited are correct. In America, in particular, there is a big industry surrounding it. The big challenge we have always faced - it arose in the case of the Dormant Accounts Act in the period 2001 to 2003 - is Article 43 is viewed as being very restrictive when it comes to private property. In using a safety deposit box a person consciously makes a decision that it is his or her private property and that he or she is putting it in it for safe keeping.

Cash is a fiduciary issue; that is the benefit of it.

In terms of old money, it is a very interesting question and I honestly do not have an answer. We can contact the Central Bank to see what cash it will exchange. It will exchange Irish punts but I do not know how far back it will redeem cash. We might even have to go further back to see if the Bank of England took over liabilities that were attached to the old, pre-independence Bank of Ireland. We would have to come back to the committee on that.