Just €37,556 has been disbursed from the Dormant Accounts fund so far this year even though its gross inflow was almost €43.7 million between January and May, according to documents from the Department of Environment. This compares to disbursements of €4.16 million during 2012 and €8.4 million during 2011.

Under Irish law, if a customer has not carried out a transaction on an account for 15 years it is considered dormant. Life assurance policies with a specified term are also considered dormant five years after the end of that term.

The money collected from these accounts and financial products are paid into the Dormant Accounts fund, which is managed by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

Any person has the right to reclaim money at any time after it has been taken from their account. However, funds which are not likely to be reclaimed are also disbursed to projects which support education, disability and social development.

When asked about the drop in disbursement a spokesperson from the Department of Environment said that “expenditure on new dormant accounts measures or programmes would serve to increase Government debt levels”.

“Money disbursed from the Dormant Accounts fund belongs to the account holder, who can reclaim it at any time, and not to the State,” the spokesperson wrote. “Consequently, every euro spent from the fund is regarded in accounting terms as a potential Government liability.”

The spokesperson added that Government departments and agencies can only source money from the Dormant Accounts fund through their exchequer allocation.