Joe O'Brien - Green Party
Minister Joe O’Brien Publishes the Dormant Accounts Fund Annual Report 2022
28th June, 2023
- €54.6 million spent in 2022 to help address disadvantage
Joe O’Brien, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, today (28th June 2023) published the 2022 Dormant Accounts Fund Annual Report.
Money in the Dormant Accounts Fund can be used to fund measures that address economic, social, or educational disadvantage and to support people with a disability. The 2022 Annual Report details that expenditure on Dormant Accounts measures over the year amounted to €54.6 million across 10 Government Departments.
Three case studies of measures supported in 2022 are included in the report:
- Works Jigsaw School Hub – €20,000 was provided to develop the Jigsaw School Hub which is an interactive online platform that strives to provide teachers and school staff with easily accessible, mental health resources and material for use in the classroom. This now provides a valuable resource to help schools and teachers in supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools, with the platform having over 13,000 users in 2022.
- STEPS+ in Oberstown Campus (Skills, Training, Education, Person-Centred, Support) – The Dormant Accounts Fund provided €364,000 in funding to support initiatives in the Oberstown Campus in 2022. One focus is on career guidance and development, which the STEPS+ (Skills, Training, Education, Person Centred Support) programme supports.
- Cherry Orchard Equine Centre – The Centre received €123,200 from the Department of Rural and Community Development to address disadvantage in 2022. The funding for the Equine Centre has assisted the financial sustainability of a vital community resource and centre and supported multiple events taking place in 2022.
Publishing the Annual Report today, Minister O’Brien said:
“I am delighted to publish the Dormant Accounts Fund Annual Report 2022 which shows that funding of over €54 million was provided in 2022 to help address disadvantage right across Ireland. The 46 measures included in the report were implemented across Government and have helped to address a diverse range of issues such as providing programmes to support children and youths; prisoners; carers; victims of crime; people suffering from dementia; homelessness; and marginalised groups such as the Traveller and Roma Community.”
The Minister continued:
“Dormant Accounts funding makes a real difference to individuals and communities right across the country. It is helping vulnerable individuals, supporting social inclusion, and strengthening our communities. I am particularly happy to see a continued focus in 2022 on assisting the Traveller and Roma communities, for example Department of Education and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth initiatives for that community.”
The Dormant Account Fund Annual Report 2022 is available to view here
ENDS
Contact:
The Department of Rural and Community Development Press Office
01-773 6843 / 087-1734633
Notes to editors:
Total expenditure from Dormant Account Fund in 2022 was €54.6 million for 46 measures across 10 Departments. The Annual Report provides information on these measures and also detailed three case studies of measures/projects funding in 2022.
Expenditure occurred across a range of Departments, funding measures to support children and youths; prisoners; carers; victims of crime; people suffering from dementia; homelessness; and marginalised groups such as the Traveller and Roma Community.
Case Studies
The Annual Report contain three case studies outlined below:
Case Study 1: What Works Jigsaw School Hub
25 organisations shared €400,000 in funding in 2022 under the What Works Sharing Knowledge Fund (delivered by the Department of Children, Equality, Diversity, Integration and Youth). As part of this
€20,000 was provided to develop the Jigsaw School Hub which is an interactive online platform that strives to provide teachers and school staff with easily accessible, high quality, clinically informed, an evidence driven mental health resources and material for use in the classroom. This now provides a valuable resource to help schools and teachers in supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools, with the platform having over 13,000 users in 2022
Case Study 2: STEPS+ in Oberstown Campus (Skills, Training, Education, Person-Centred, Support)
The Dormant Accounts Fund provided €364,000 in funding to support initiatives in the Oberstown Campus in 2022. One focus is on career guidance and development, which the STEPS+ (Skills, Training, Education, Person Centred Support) programme supports. This is a three year pilot which has been designed and developed by guidance counsellors in consultation with young people and staff across the Oberstown Campus. As part of this a platform has been developed which helps track and support individual interventions and supports for the young people, with the objective of assisting their development and future careers.
Case Study 3: Cherry Orchard Equine Centre
Cherry Orchard Equine Centre received €123,200 in funding under the Department of Rural and Community Development’s targeted social inclusion measures, which provided a total of €728,000 in support for community organisations addressing disadvantage in 2022. The funding for the Equine Centre has assisted the financial sustainability of a vital community resource and centre and supported multiple events taking place in 2022, including community events, cultural events, Easter activities for children and an equine open day which included a focus on career opportunities.
Background to the Dormant Accounts Fund
The Dormant Accounts Acts 2001-2012, together with the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003, provide a framework for the administration of unclaimed accounts in credit institutions (i.e. banks, building societies and An Post) and unclaimed life assurance policies in insurance undertakings.
The main purpose of the legislation is to reunite account or policy holders with their funds in credit institutions or insurance undertakings and in this regard, these bodies are required to take steps to identify and contact the owners of dormant accounts and unclaimed life assurance policies.
However, in order to utilise the unused funds the legislation also introduced a scheme for the disbursement of funds that are unlikely to be reclaimed from dormant accounts and unclaimed policies for the purposes of measures to assist:
- the personal and social development of persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged;
- the educational development of persons who are educationally disadvantaged or
- persons with a disability.
Summary Table of Dormant Accounts Fund Annual Report 2022
The following table provides a summary of measures and funding provided in 2022 to each relevant Government Department. Full details are within the Annual Report itself.
| No. | Government Department | Measure | Disbursed from DAF in 2022 (€) |
| 1 | Rural & Community Development | Social Enterprise Measure | 2,300,000 |
| 2 | Rural & Community Development | Senior Alerts Scheme | 3,000,000 |
| 3 | Rural & Community Development | Targeted Social Inclusion | 728,538 |
| 4 | Rural & Community Development | Pre-social Social Cohesion | 125,021 |
| 5 | Rural & Community Development | Public Libraries | 448,031 |
| 6 | Rural & Community Development | Participation and Engagement by marginalised and disadvantaged communities in the Local Economic and Community Planning (LECP) Process. | 200,000 |
| 7 | Rural & Community Development | Rethink Ireland | 5,500,000 |
| 8 | Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage | Housing First | 3,000,000 |
| 9 | Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage | Traveller Accommodation | 288,072 |
| 10 | Department of Justice | Local Community Safety pilot projects completion | 445,923 |
| 11 | Department of Justice | Drogheda Implementation Plan Year 2 | 242,518 |
| 12 | Department of Justice | Youth and Community Justice Services | 4,932,748 |
| 13 | Department of Justice | Irish Prison Service: Community Based Health in Justice | 269,694 |
| 14 | Department of Justice | Protecting Young People from the Influence of Adult Crime Networks in Ireland | 1,426,000 |
| 15 | Department of Justice | Consent Campaign | 300,000 |
| 16 | Department of Justice | Victim Rights Campaign | 499,999 |
| 17 | Department of Justice | Intimate Images Campaign | 299,316 |
| 18 | Department of Justice | Further Education & Training Consent Campaign | 151,200 |
| 19 | Department of Justice | Adventure Sports Project | 30,000 |
| 20 | Department of Justice | We Have a Dream | 120,000 |
| 21 | Department of Justice | Kickstart Social Enterprise Kickstart | 613,400 |
| 22 | Department of Social Protection | Support Employment, Education and Training Outcomes for People with a Disability and Family Carers | 3,980,000 |
| 23 | Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | Care Supports | 1,198,612 |
| 24 | Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | Oberstown Detention Campus Training Initiatives | 364,000 |
| 25 | Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | Traveller and/or Roma Community Initiatives | 1,021,200 |
| 26 | Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | Youth and/or Family Initiatives | 6,926,698 |
| 27 | Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | Refugees Support Initiatives | 800,000 |
| 28 | Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | Babies and/or Young Children | 204,000 |
| 29 | Department of Education | Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) | 300,000 |
| 30 | Department of Education | Young Social Innovators | 180,000 |
| 31 | Department of Education | CDETB Migrant Integration | 115,000 |
| 32 | Department of Education | City Connects Pilot Project | 400,000 |
| 33 | Department of Education | Travellers and Roma Education Fund | 340,000 |
| 34 | Department of Education | Traveller & Roma Learners Transition | 100,000 |
| 35 | Department of Education | Time to Count | 20,000 |
| 36 | Department of Education | Glasnevin Trust | 20,000 |
| 37 | Department of Education | SEN Transitions | 150,000 |
| 38 | Department of Defence | Upgrading of the Civil Defence Fleet of Vehicles | 818,099 |
| 39 | Department of Defence | Dormant Accounts funding to Veterans Associations | 115,365 |
| 40 | Department of Defence | Sail Training Ireland | 50,000 |
| 41 | Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media | Community Sport and Physical Activity Hubs | 2,170,200 |
| 42 | Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media | National Sport Education and Training Hub | 2,474,400 |
| 43 | Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media | Sports Measures for Disadvantaged Communities to Support the National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) | 7,355,400 |
| 44 | Department of Further and Higher Education, Research and Innovation and Science | Traveller Apprenticeship Incentivisation Programme | 450,000 |
| 45 | Department of Health | Pilot rollout of the carer’s needs assessment tool | 31,694 |
| 46 | Department of Health | National rollout of dementia training programme for HSE home care staff | 76,548 |
| Total | 54,581,676 |