One North Dublin saver, leaving AIB in O'Connell Street in Dublin yesterday after opening a Government savings scheme account on day 364 of the one-year offer, commented that she was pleased that it was "now out of the way."

Her sentiments may be shared this evening by the instigator of the costly scheme, the outgoing Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.

Industry sources estimate that 100,000 people per week joined the scheme in April. Preliminary figures from Revenue suggest that the final amount of money committed to the five-year scheme could be as high as €6 billion, with the Exchequer adding €1.5 billion to that.

All good things come to an end and the last-minute savers queuing to open accounts yesterday were determined to do the sensible thing before time ran out.

Some of the bank and building society customers that spoke to The Irish Times admitted they intended to recycle existing savings to avail of the 25 per cent Government top-up. Many were first-time savers who were looking for a little bit of security in the future.

Mr Ronan Bradley, originally from Belfast, opened an equity-based account in a building society yesterday, with a view to saving for a deposit for a house. "The main reason I'm doing it is because it's free money and there's no better investment around. I'm going to start with the maximum contribution now to build up the fund but I might scale back after a year or so."

One Dublin saver, Ms Frances Halligan, said she wasn't sure at first if she would open an account in the scheme. "I was very put off by my experience with Eircom and wanted to be sure that these savings were guaranteed. My goal after five years would be to have some money set aside if I did want to retire a little early."

Ms Nicola Murphy from Jobstown in Dublin opened an account for the minimum amount of €12.50 per month. "In the end, my mother convinced me to do it, not for anything specific but just to save for the future."

Linda and Gerry Lawlor from Sandymount both opened deposit accounts with EBS. For a while they were trying to decide if it was worth tying up their money for five years. They think equities are a bit precarious now but might switch later. "We'd like to have an emergency fund there for unforeseen events or we could use it later for pension funding," Mr Lawlor said.

For anyone intending to open an account today - the final day of the scheme - financial institutions stress the importance of having the necessary documents in order.

It is also advisable to get your application in early in the day as some branches may shut down the scheme before close of business to make sure existing applications are processed before the Revenue deadline.