Irish heirs enjoy €5m emigrant windfall

Millions of euro left by Irish emigrants with no next of kin have been repatriated here by heir-hunting firms while more fortunes go unclaimed at the British treasury.

One company alone distributed more than €5m to beneficiaries here in a recent 18-month period.

The windfall includes sizeable estates left by childless Irish emigrants who died in England and Wales with no known family and without making a will.