Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Scanlon for introducing this question. The European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019, SI 110 of 2019, which were made by the Minister for Finance, provide that the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies is the central repository of such information held by companies and industrial and provident societies. The deadline for filing, as set out in the regulations, was 22 November last. The objectives of the beneficial ownership provisions that are being implemented are to strengthen transparency regarding who ultimately owns and controls companies and trusts and to detect, disrupt and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing effectively.

The number of companies filing increased steadily throughout last week as the deadline approached.  Due to technical difficulties, any submissions filed with the RBO by midnight on 25 November were treated by the RBO as having been received on time. Data from the RBO show that 152,989 companies had successfully registered beneficial ownership details with it by 25 November. This represents approximately 67% of the total number of registered companies. I believe this figure will continue to increase as submissions received before the deadline are processed. Unfortunately, a breakdown by size of company is not available. The focus of the RBO staff is on processing the many thousands of submissions that have been received. That work will be continuing. We will get the Deputy an update on that as time goes on.

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