Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House as well as welcoming this new legislative proposal. I wish to touch briefly on some aspects of dormant accounts, including how the banks deal with them. Some years ago, a client of mine received a letter from the Revenue Commissioners concerning such an account. She found that she had an account of £50,000 which had been opened in 1976. She never had the kind of money that was in that account and when we tracked it down we found that her brother had come home from England and had opened the account in her name. He had gone back to England and died about six months after opening the account. In the intervening 20 years there was no correspondence with her by the bank. In dealing with estates, when members of the legal profession write to banks seeking information on accounts, they may find that all the searches are done on a "Michael Murphy" of one address. If there is any variation in a name, the banks do not provide any assistance. We are concerned about that issue.

Some years ago, a financial institution tried to introduce a fee for any searches that were requested, but such fees should be discouraged or not allowed. When people are genuinely trying to find accounts, in particular when they do not have an immediate family and not all the information is available to those administering the estate, banks should provide as much assistance as possible. Unfortunately, however, full assistance is not being provided by financial institutions and, as a result, accounts are never traced.

There has been more movement of people within the country over the past 20 years. At one time a person might have bought a house and lived in the same place for a lifetime. In the past 20 years, however, that pattern has changed substantially. As recently as yesterday, I received a letter from the Department of Social Protection in respect of the previous resident of my house who left more than 14 years ago. The Department was trying to track information on an employee of the previous resident. I am surprised the information had not been updated. Likewise, information is not updated with banks either. Banks should be aware of this matter and need to be more helpful in giving out information, particularly in dealing with the administration of an estate.

My colleague, Senator Cáit Keane, mentioned the failure to appoint of inspectors. We are relying on the 2010 report, so I am not sure if there was any update. The previous Act provided for the appointment of inspectors, so it should be followed through in the new legislation. The same applies to life assurance policies so that people who took the time to invest in those funds are entitled to get the moneys back. The need for inspectors in that area is essential.

I welcome the legislation. The fund has been used very well and many projects have benefited greatly from it. The money has been put to good use. None the less, we need to ensure that such money goes back to its rightful owners who took the time to invest and set it aside for future use.