'Slush fund' claim by SF over accounts

DISSOLVING the dormant accounts board and transferring its powers to the Minister for the Environment will turn it into a “slush fund for the Government”, Sinn Féin has claimed.

The allegation was made as the Dáil debated the Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill introduced as part of the Government’s pledge to reduce the number of State bodies and in line with the recommendation of the McCarthy report.

Sinn Féin spokesman Brian Stanley said the report claimed dissolving the board would save €1.7 million but the figure was “plucked out of the air”.

Introducing the legislation, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said cutting the number of quangos had resulted in savings “in the order of €1.9 million” and dissolving the dormant accounts fund would bring it to “in excess of €2 million”.

Mr Hogan insisted that the objectives underpinning the fund would remain the same, so money from the fund “can be used to assist persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged, educationally disadvantaged or those who have a disability”.

He added that it would made arrangements for funding simpler as the Government had to approve all expenditure.

The dormant accounts fund consists of money from unclaimed bank, building society, post office and similar accounts. Since it was established in 2003, €626 million has been transferred to the fund with €25 million in interest rates, and about €218 million of that was reclaimed by account holders.

Fianna Fáil environment spokesman Niall Collins agreed with the transfer of powers to the Minister. “I think for too long and my own party were probably at the forefront of driving this, decision making was shoved away from the minister of the day and was shoved out the door to outside third-party quangos”.

Mr Stanley said the Bill “further erodes the independence of the dormant accounts fund”. Moving the funding into the department, turns it “literally into a slush fund for the Government”. The guidelines state the Minister has to have regard for policies or priorities of Government and the cost-effectiveness of the funding proposals “and this is very worrying for many in the community sector”.

The money in the accounts fund should be ringfenced and not used to supplement other areas of Government spending. He would propose that the oversight and evaluation role must be kept independent of Government and “at arm’s length from any Minister”.

Thomas Pringle (Ind, Donegal South West) said the Bill did not provide for any Oireachtas oversight role apart from the Bill.

He said it was vitally important to hit the target groups and disadvantaged groups the fund was originally established for and suggested that an Oireachtas committee should be allowed to have a proper input into the disbursement of funding.