Jim O'Keeffe
Question:41 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance if he will give an update on the operation of the Dormant Accounts Act, 2001. [29944/01]
Written Answers. - Dormant Accounts.
As the Deputy is aware, primary ministerial responsibility for the dormant accounts scheme is now vested in my colleague, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs. As the scheme is due to come into operation next March, much is being done to ensure that once the first accounts are deemed dormant at that time, the mechanisms provided for in the Act, designed to notify account holders and to monitor compliance on the part of the institutions, are immediately effective. I am informed that officials in the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs are preparing the commencement order which will give formal effect to the provisions of the Act. I understand that the order should be signed shortly. I am also informed that the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs has begun work on arrangements to establish the Dormant Accounts Fund Disbursements Board, provided for under section 30 of the 2001 Act. I understand that it is the intention of the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs that his Department will undertake a consultative process to ascertain interest in membership of the board.
Section 11 of the 2001 Act obliges credit institutions to arrange for publication of a notice, in the form prescribed by the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, in two or more daily newspapers and the Iris Oifigiúil, advising the general public of the scheme. The first such notice is scheduled to be placed next 30 April. Discussions on the form of this notice are under way between my Department and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, as well as the representative bodies of the financial sector. When these discussions have concluded, the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs will make the necessary regulations.
The Deputy may also recall that I undertook, during the enactment stages of this legislation, to run a public awareness initiative to bring the scheme to the attention of the public at large. I intended that this would be once-off advertisements which would reassure the public – in particular, the elderly and infirm who may not get into their banks or building societies often – that the State was not depriving them in any way. Work on this initiative is well under way, and I hope it can be published by mid-February next year, after the launch of the euro. It is my intention that the advertisements to be placed should be as clear and informative as possible, and should serve to reassure the public of their rights under the 2001 Act.
Question No. 42 answered with Question No. 36.