Jimmy Harte (Labour)

I welcome the Minister to the Upper House. He is a frequent visitor here, which is a credit to him, and he always provides information which is relevant to the day-to-day workings of the country. Whoever decided to proceed with this dormant accounts legislation was wise because a lot of old money was lying in banks which got their hands on the interest. When the Government introduced this legislation, it was a good day's work. As the years went on, people became more conscious that money was lying dormant. As Senator O'Donovan said, €70 or €80 here and there can add up to a lot of money. We should publicise the fact that there are still dormant accounts in existence, so that the money can be used for social purposes in disadvantaged areas.

It is fairly straightforward to work out the question of unclaimed life assurance. Do pension funds which fall into the same type of category come under the dormant accounts legislation? For example, self-employed people may have contributed to personal private pension funds with the money being controlled by life insurance companies. The legislation, however, only covers unclaimed life policies. There may be another source of income from such pension funds. From my own experience, I know that many small business people would have taken out private pension policies. They may then have given up that business and discontinued the policy. There may be €2,000 or €20,000 involved or, unfortunately, they may have died. The life insurance element of single people with no family connections may have been tackled but the pension fund could be another source of income for the Government.

I am delighted the Bill tidies up the efficiency of the system. One cannot emphasise enough the importance of that aspect. The disbursements will help people who are economically, socially and educationally disadvantaged, including those who have disabilities. Most of us were at the carer's group briefing this morning, which included an outline of the difficulties encountered by a female carer and her 19 year old son. We must target this type of funding effectively. We spend a lot of money on mental health, depression and suicide awareness. Groups like Aware and smaller groups should be targeted for funding. In recent years, many bigger charities have been sweeping up much of the money. Those involved in smaller groups, such as Aware, are not noisy individuals. They are quiet but they have difficulty in funding their groups. We should target small groups which are falling through the cracks, so to speak, as they do not have the same public profile as larger charities. Groups like Aware and others should be considered for such funding. I also support any move that will save costs and in that respect the Bill is welcome. Perhaps the Minister can provide some detail on pension funds.