Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

However, the annual assessment would only arise after a very long time and after this Bill was well tried and tested. As we have said clearly from the beginning, starting back in 1783, when the Bank of Ireland opened, and 1813, when AIB was opened in some form, or one of their banks, many of these deposit boxes go back a long way. This would not be a quick process. By the time we would get to 80 years ago, we would have a lot of experience. It is just a cut-off line. What would be done when it got that far would obviously be something to review anyway. We wanted to reassure people that things that had been put in boxes in living memory would not be chased. That is all we wanted to ensure. As I said, it would be a long way down the line before a bank would ever face the one-year thing, and there would be so much experience built up that there would probably be issues at that stage that needed to be dealt with and that could be resolved from the experience gained. The 80 years was a reassurance and it could just as well be 100 years.