Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, for taking this matter. I want to discuss the use of cash for the purchase of property, including small parcels of land and sites. It is important that such financial transactions be evaluated, controlled and monitored, with particular attention needing to be paid to high-value cash transactions. I pay tribute to the agencies of the State tasked with the control of illegal money and money laundering. The Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, the money laundering investigation unit of An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners are leading the way on this but more needs to be done. At present, there are some safeguards in place under the regulations of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 to flag cash transactions such as property service provider declarations and business risk assessment forms. However, land is being sold for cash with no genuine account taken of where the money is coming from.

Over the past two years, I am aware of at least five separate sites being purchased in suspicious circumstances in my constituency. In most of these cases, the vendors were completely unaware of to whom they were selling. It has subsequently come to my attention that these sites are now being used for miscellaneous activities and outside the normal planning regulations. Auctioneers have sold four sites near Blarney and two near Grenagh to individuals with no connection to the area. The sites have no outline planning permission and, after sale, a change of use has occurred in each case without planning permission. The same endless saga of planning and forceful proceedings is instigated, which inevitably leads to little or no action. This is happening right across the Cork North-Central constituency.

This irregular activity must be questioned. In many cases, the source of the money used to buy the land is not accounted for because cash is used. It behoves me to ask why a person would buy a site with no outline planning permission and where there is no intention to build on it. Where is the money coming from for these transactions? The proceeds of crime have never been so great and the use of cash remains the primary means of transaction for criminals and organised crime gangs. At a time when the rest of society is moving towards cashless transactions, this leaves legitimate people and businesses vulnerable. Genuine vendors are unaware of who the buyer is, genuine buyers are being priced out of the market and the proceeds of crime are being washed with impunity.

I ask the Minister of State to undertake a review of the implementation of sections 38 and 39 of the 2010 Act and to promote greater awareness between stakeholders of the requirement to carry out risk assessments and keep the vendor fully informed. Will he provide an update on how many convictions for money laundering have been secured over the past two years? I also ask that regulations be examined to prohibit the purchase of property in this jurisdiction with a value greater than €5,000 without a tax clearance certificate. In addition, it is worth considering whether, in the absence of outline planning permission, a declaration of use by the vendor should be provided before a sale is concluded. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a situation where a large number of criminals in Cork are purchasing land, which is currently the subject of an investigation by CAB. A number of sites have been reported to the bureau and investigations are ongoing. People from far afield, in the United States and elsewhere, are listed as the registered owners of land, as per the Land Registry affiliation folio, but those people clearly do not exist. As I said, these matters are subject to examination by CAB.

There is a lot going on in this area and it cuts across a number of Departments, including the Departments of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Finance and Justice. We need to have an open discussion on the issues and come to some sort of conclusion in terms of how we keep records of these people and these potentially illicit activities.

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