Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 71: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the position regarding dormant accounts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19001/10]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Dormant Accounts Fund Acts provides for an annual transfer by credit institutions and insurance undertakings of monies in accounts determined to be dormant into the Dormant Accounts Fund (DAF). Since its establishment in May 2003 to end-March 2010, the net transfers to the DAF have totalled some €326m.

The value of the DAF at end-March 2010, net of liabilities, was some €42m. This excludes the amount of some €46m currently maintained in a Reserve Account to meet reclaims and to cover expenses. The reserve is currently set at 15% of the total monies received by the Fund and not yet reclaimed.

The Dormant Accounts Board has prepared a revised Disbursement Plan as required by the legislation. This plan provides the overall framework within which decisions on disbursements are made and funding allocated. Allocations from the DAF are prioritised towards those areas and persons designated as most disadvantaged. I anticipate that I will be bringing the Board's new Plan to Government for approval in the coming weeks.

Further details of the projects to which funding has been allocated to date and a summary of the status of the DAF are available on my Department's website www.pobail.ie/en/DormantAccounts. For the Deputy's convenience, I am arranging to have a copy of the summary table forwarded directly to him.