Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I apologise for not being in the House earlier in the debate. The Dormant Accounts Fund has been very successful in getting money to communities over the years. This is why we have argued not to end the system as it is - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That said, this does not prevent us from cutting back and reducing costs. I have argued in the House before that we should at this stage be trying to find people who are willing to sit on boards with no costs or relatively few costs being incurred. In the case of the Dormant Accounts Board in particular, given the benefit some communities have gained from disbursal of these moneys, we will be able to find people willing to serve and to reflect the needs of communities and educational facilities which have benefited from dormant accounts. That is one of the reasons we have argued this point.

We have also argued it is dangerous and bad practice that such a fund would fall to a Minister to disburse, because this raises the possibility that it becomes the largesse of the Minister, to be disbursed on his or her pet projects or constituency over and above others. We have had allegations against Ministers in the past that, where they have had control of grants and the like, they have not been fair across the board. That has never been said of the Dormant Accounts Board, which has been fair in terms of grants and disbursal of funds over the years. As I said, it is not broken, so do not fix it.

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