Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 397: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the amount of funding made available to the Dormant Accounts Fund in each of the past five years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41224/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 398: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the funding available to his Department from the Dormant Accounts Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41225/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 399: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the disbursement from the Dormant Accounts Fund in each of the past five years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41226/08]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 397 to 399, inclusive, together.

The Deputy will be aware that under the legislation, credit institutions and insurance undertakings are required, each April, to transfer to the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), all moneys falling dormant in the previous year. Under the Dormant Accounts Acts, disbursement of unclaimed dormant accounts are used for the purposes of assisting three broad categories of persons — those affected by economic and social disadvantage, those affected by educational disadvantage and persons with a disability.

The amount of funding transferred from financial institutions to the Dormant Accounts Fund since 2003 is as follows:

Of the funds transferred, some 163 million has been reclaimed by the account holders at the end of October 2008.

In relation to the funding available to my own Department, and subject to a Supplementary Estimate for my Department, the level of expenditure in 2008 on projects supported by the Dormant Accounts Fund will amount to 12m. A similar level of funding has been provided in respect of such projects in 2009.

The disbursements from the Dormant Accounts Fund by the NTMA in each of the past five years to the end of October 2008 are summarised in the table below:

Value of Disbursements from the Dormant Accounts Fund

Information on transfers into, allocations from and actual disbursements from the fund are posted on my Department's website and regularly updated.