Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

That I am seeking to broaden the definition is not disputed. The Minister is correct. I am only doing that to make it effective. We saw a programme as recently as last night, where trans-border crime seeks to take refuge in concealing the ownership of accounts where possible. For that purpose, I concede that I am trying to broaden the definition.

The Minister states that "without undue difficulty" is unnecessarily vague. It was only inserted in the amendment because of the argument in the Seanad that it would be a punitive burden on the banks. The intention here was to cover the circumstances where it almost jumps up and bites someone, it is so obvious that the money is somebody else's. It was designed to minimise the burden on financial institutions in terms of co-operating with the authorities and providing the information. The Minister has now turned that argument back on me by saying that my amendment is too vague. I must accept that this is the view of the Attorney General but for reasons of clarity the amendment has merit.

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