An Post and State Savings warn dormant accounts face State fund transfer

An Post and Irish State Savings have warned that accounts and investments left untouched since 2011 will be transferred to the Dormant Accounts Fund held by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) unless a transaction is made by 31 March 2027. The warning appears in Iris Oifigiúil No. 79 of 2 October 2026, in a customer notice issued on 1 October 2026 under the Dormant Accounts Act 2001 (reference C-25).

Under the Dormant Accounts Act 2001, financial institutions, including An Post (formerly the Department of Posts and Telegraphs), must identify accounts and investments with no customer transactions for 15 years or more and designate them dormant. An Post will write to holders deemed dormant, except where the balance is under €100, the holder has asked that no correspondence be sent, or previous correspondence was returned marked “gone away” or “not known at this address”. Where An Post has already been notified that a holder is deceased, a letter will issue in due course to the legal or personal representative.

What counts as a transaction

To prevent an account or investment becoming dormant, the holder must carry out a transaction, defined in the notice as follows:

• State Savings Account or Post Office Savings Bank Deposit Account (including the Post Office Book Based Deposit Account and the Post Office Statement Based Deposit Account, formerly Deposit Account Plus, Pension Save and Childcare Save) with no transaction since 1 October 2011: a deposit or a withdrawal is enough.
• Savings Bonds purchased on or before 30 September 2008, with no partial repayment since 1 October 2011.
• Savings Certificates purchased on or before 31 March 2006, with no partial repayment since 1 October 2011.
• Instalment Savings where the 12-month savings cycle was completed on or before 30 September 2006, with no partial repayment since 1 October 2011.

For Savings Bonds, Savings Certificates and Instalment Savings, the 15-year period begins at the first maturity of the investment, that is, on completion of the initial investment term.

Deadline and destination

Once a transaction takes place on or before 31 March 2027, the account or investment is removed from the dormant list. Where no transaction occurs by that date, the total value of the holding will be transferred to the Dormant Accounts Fund, without further notice to the holder, and will be managed by the NTMA on behalf of the State.

Balances transferred, including any interest due, remain the property of the account or investment holder and may be reclaimed at any time from An Post, subject to advance notice as prescribed in the Act. Individuals who make fraudulent claims may be guilty of an offence under the Act.

Wider banking notice

A separate notice in the same edition, from the Banking Federation of Ireland (BPFI), applies the same 15-year rule to member institutions and tells customers who believe they hold a dormant account to contact their own branch or head office to reactivate it and remove it from the dormant list. It also states that where no transaction is made before 31 March, the funds will transfer to the NTMA, which manages them on behalf of the State.

The BPFI notice lists member institutions including Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, permanent tsb, An Post DAC, Citibank Europe plc and Barclays Bank Ireland PLC.

For savers, the practical effect is a hard deadline: any State Savings product untouched for more than a decade must see a deposit, withdrawal or partial repayment before 31 March 2027 or it will leave the institution’s books. Holders can check whether they hold dormant products at statesavings.ie or through the Customer Helpline on 0818 20 50 60 / 01 705 7200; An Post and the Prize Bond Company act as agents of the NTMA.

Source: Iris Oifigiúil, No. 79, 2 October 2026, section I (official reference: C-25).