Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Intestate estates are where someone dies and has assets but no next of kin to claim them. The estate becomes liable for surrender to the Exchequer. The committee will see that assets worth €259,000 came into the account in 2022. The balance in the account on 31 December was €1.34 million. Typically what happens is that once the assets are liquidated, the money is brought into the intestate estates account. Until all the legalities are complete and a cooling off period for next of kin to come forward has passed, the money is held in the intestate estate account.