Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

Under the dormant accounts initiative around €200 million was raised, which otherwise would have gone directly back to the banks. That money would not have been brought forward.

Consumers should check on screen the accounts they have in their banks. I found recently that I had a small amount in an account, but if I had not claimed it, I would not have been told about it. I duly withdrew the amount and closed the account. There was another notice on the site on screen and when I alerted someone to it, that notice did not appear on screen when the person went to the bank the next day, but it subsequently reappeared. There are many things happening in the banks. An enormous number of accounts are being concealed by the banks and if they can get away with it, that revenue accruing from them goes into their profits.

The banks also hold in trust documents and bonds dating back perhaps 50 to 100 years and eventually they will slip back into the banking system. Somebody will raise that issue some day. I call on the Minister for Finance and his senior officials to carry out – not a trawl – but at least to indicate to the banks that such documents are the possession of members of the public. I had reason to check a file recently and I noted that some of these documents have not been touched for 50 years.