Dormant savings worth €150 million have been reactivated ahead of the Government's March 31st deadline, the Minister for Finance revealed yesterday.

Some €250 million remains unclaimed in bank accounts and is due to be transferred to the Exchequer's inactive account fund on that date, Mr McCreevy told the Oireachtas Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service. Savings are liable to be appropriated if they have been undisturbed for more than 15 years.

Mr McCreevy said he would consider the feasibility of a central database of holders of dormant accounts and of unclaimed life assurance policies, the entitlements from which will accrue to the State under the draft Unclaimed Life Assurance Bill currently before the houses of the Oireachtas.

But the Minister cautioned that legislators would have to "walk a legal minefield" to establish such a catalogue, as its creation might compromise privacy rights guaranteed by data protection legislation and under the Constitution.

Unclaimed personal retirement savings accounts (PRSAs) will be treated in the same way as assurance policies under the Bill, the Minister said. Dormant funds will pass to a centralised fund managed by the National Treasury Management Agency. Money unlikely to be claimed will then be spent "for charitable purposes or purposes of society and community benefit".

Life assurance policies are deemed dormant where there has been no communication from the customer for 15 years in the case of policies with an unspecified term policy and five years for policies with a specific term.