Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 16 May 1990

Vol. 398 No. 8

Written Answers. - Prize Bonds.

Ben Briscoe

Ceist:

64 Mr. Briscoe asked the Minister for Finance if there are unclaimed prizes from the Prize Bonds; if so, the amount; the efforts being made to contact the winners; and if he will indicate the number of prizes involved whose total is greater than (i) £10,000 (ii) £25,000 (iii) £50,000 and (iv) £100,000.

Minister for Finance (Mr. A. Reynolds)

Under the present administrative arrangements for the prize bond scheme, unclaimed prizes are defined as prizes which remain unclaimed six months after the issue of the prize notification. It is assumed that the Deputy's question relates to such funds, which at 28 April 1990 amounted to £200,050. The requested breakdown is as follows:

Category	No. of Prizes
£10,000-£24,999	1
£25,000-£49,999	1
£50,000-£99,999	NIL
£100,000+	NIL

Prize winners are notified in writing and provided with a prize claims form. If no reply is received after 3 months, a remainder is issued together with a duplicate claims form. In cases where letters are returned as addressee unknown, inquiries are made with banks, post offices and occupiers of known subsequent addresses of the prize winner, in order to determine the prize winner's current address.