Report on Politically Exposed Persons: Motion Dail Éireann — 2024-04-25 ============================================================ Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown I thank the Deputies for their contributions and the Ceann Comhairle for his declaration of interest. Many important points were made. It is clear that this subject is of great importance, not just to those of us who are Members of these Houses, but to anyone connected to us or our colleagues or to anyone with an interest in entering public life. I acknowledge the work that has gone into this report, including the research conducted, the request for stakeholder evidence and the identification of recommended actions. I share the view that measures relating to politically exposed persons must be fair and balanced while remaining commensurate with the risk. However, it is important to note that, while compliance with our obligations as a member of the EU and the Financial Action Task Force to ensure we have a robust framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing remains a critical aspect, we also need an element of common sense. Officials will now progress a review and engage with the joint committee to determine how best to address the report's other recommendations. I will endeavour to provide an element of an answer to one or two of the issues that were raised. Deputy Connolly discussed financial institutions and supervision. They may outsource some of the functions, but they ultimately remain responsible. We hope that the review will endeavour to learn exactly the details of those policies and procedures to provide everyone in the House and looking in with clarity. The status of the UK's work in respect of PEPs was raised. It has been a topic of much discussion there in headline media. I cannot comment on the exact situation, but we are aware that charges for customers' due diligence may be passed on to consumers there. In Ireland, however, the creation of any new charge must be approved by the Central Bank. I understand that a public consultation on reforming AML and CFT supervision in the UK is accepting submissions until 30 September. Its findings are awaited. Trusts and similar arrangements are subject to the same disclosure of beneficial ownership requirements as companies. These requirements have been revised in the new EU legislative package, with the obligation to obtain and hold information being moved to the new AML regulation while the provisions on central registers will be in the new directive and the current AML directive. Accordingly, the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018 contains a prohibition on credit and financial institutions entering into correspondent relationships with shell institutions. These provisions are being moved into the new AML regulation, along with similar prohibitions relating to crypto-asset service providers. Regarding a cross-government group with oversight of anti-money laundering, there is a Government AML steering committee chaired by the Department of Finance. The purpose of the AMLSC is to provide a national cross-sectoral forum for the oversight and active review of Ireland's framework for AML and CFT. Membership of the AMLSC consists of a range of bodies, including the Departments of Justice and Enterprise, Trade and Employment, State bodies, for example, An Garda Síochána, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Central Bank of Ireland, as well as relevant supervisors, such as designated accountancy bodies and the Law Society of Ireland. This has been a robust debate and the issues raised are fair and merit serious consideration. They will be considered. The review that is under way to take full account of the report's recommendations will be a thorough one. It is important that all Members feel they can contribute to it, either through Deputy McGuinness's office or the joint committee. With the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, and other relevant Ministers, I will undertake to ensure that the review is fair and that, in our examination of the role of politically exposed persons, this does not become a directive that deters people from entering public life, stokes fear or concern or impinges on people's rights or liberties simply because they or their relatives hold elected office, and instead achieves the just and important purpose for which it is set up. That the purpose it was set up for impinges on our daily lives should not allow it to impinge on our reputation or how we do our business in this House. I thank Deputy McGuinness and his committee for this thorough report. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-04-25/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:52+00:00 Sitting date: 2024-04-25