Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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2186. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way in which community groups and charitable organisations can seek funding through the dormant accounts fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59413/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The main purpose of the Dormant Accounts Acts is to reunite account holders with their funds. Under the legislation dormant funds which have not been claimed are transferred to the Dormant Accounts Fund, which is managed by the National Treasury Management Agency. The beneficial owner has a right to reclaim their money at any time. The legislation governing Dormant Accounts also established an administrative framework within which Departments could apply for funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund.

The Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht has responsibility for the overall administration of the Dormant Accounts Fund, with individual Government Departments responsible for the delivery and administration of their own measures. All measures funded must be in line with the objectives set out in the legislation, that is, to address economic, social or educational disadvantage or to support persons with a disability.

The measures to be funded are identified each year in annual Dormant Accounts Fund Action Plans, all of which are available here: www.gov.ie/en/collection/769773-dormant-accounts-fund-annual-action-plans-and-reports/

Many approved measures relate to specific projects and have no further application processes. Where measures have an application process for organisations each measure is operated by the relevant Department. As such, the timelines for applications differ for each measure and are a matter for individual Departments.

Within my own Department, the total voted allocation for Dormant Account measures in 2025 is €11.57 million. This supports measures including Rethink Ireland, Supports for Social Enterprise, the Senior Alerts Scheme and Targeted Social Inclusion Measures.

The Rethink Ireland measure and the Support for Social Enterprise measures involve an application process for relevant organisations seeking funding. The former is operated by Rethink Ireland and the latter by Pobal, on behalf of the Department. Information on open calls by Rethink Ireland is available here: rethinkireland.ie/open-funds/

DAF funding for social enterprise through Pobal is currently closed for applications in 2025, it is anticipated that a new call for applications will open in 2026. Information on this scheme is available on the Pobal website.

Further information on the Dormant Accounts Fund, including all published Action Plans and Annual Reports, and the current Disbursement Scheme for 2023-2025 is available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/769773-dormant-accounts-fund-annual-action-plans-and-reports/