Ms Brenda McVeigh:

We have flagged that as a flaw in the system in relation to the beneficial ownership, BO, framework. We have had multiple negotiations and discussions over the past two years with the Commission about trusts and about the fact that, by their very nature, it is difficult to get to the beneficial ownership of trusts. Also in a common law country like Ireland, a trust can be established tomorrow morning in the Dáil. If someone sets up a tea club in the Dáil, that is a trust. Never mind shell companies; it is something as simple at that. To try to understand who is the beneficial owner of that trust is difficult. Anyone who benefits from that tea club is a beneficial owner. Many trusts are established in Ireland, and in common law countries in particular, unknown to the trustees at that, it is a significant fly in the ointment of the BO framework. The Commission has become more sympathetic to our position on that in the past six months of the negotiations under the new package, but it has not been rectified. I am not sure how it can be fixed in a common law country where trusts are so widely used.