Dáil debates

Thursday, 3 February 2005

Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Second Stage.

 

1:00 pm

Photo of Brian O'SheaBrian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

Tááthas orm an seans a fháil labhairt sa díospóireacht ar an mBille um Chuntais Dhíomhaoine (Leasú) 2004. On 16 December 2003, the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government gave itself a massive Christmas present. It reviewed arrangements for dormant accounts "in the context of ensuring appropriate capacity to evaluate and process applications in the light of the emerging scale of the fund". The key phrase in this statement is "in the light of the emerging scale of the fund".

The Government was agreeably surprised by the amount of moneys available in the fund. The first moneys, amounting to €196.2 million, were transferred from credit institutions to the dormant accounts fund at the end of April 2003. The National Treasury Management Agency, which has responsibility for managing the fund, determined that 15% of the total fund should be kept in a reserve account to provide for the right of reclaim for account holders whose funds had been transferred. The 2003 annual report of the Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursements Board states: "To date account holders have reclaimed approximately €24 million from the fund." Interest earned from the fund's investment came to approximately €2.75 million. The Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Noel Ahern, alluded to the running costs. The 2003 annual report states that the running costs came to €148,000. As some of these costs were one-off and involved setting up the board, such a figure is not that large. If the size of the board is increased, economies of scale will kick in. I am convinced that when the Government saw this significant and potential slush fund of approximately €200 million, it simply grabbed it.

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