Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am aware that things are moving in Brussels, but they move very slowly. In the meantime, we will have a problem with transparency. An over-the-top approach has been taken. In this regard, consider what is happening in other jurisdictions. The likes of France and Latvia have completely ignored the approach. The measure has been interpreted differently in various parts of Europe. We have taken a very conservative, extreme approach that is sheltering people. The vast majority of people who own companies will have no issue but journalists will not be able to write stories about the real offenders whom the register is in place to address because they will not be able to corroborate the identity of beneficial owners. This has been taken to the extreme and we should not have to wait until a change happens in Brussels. If we do, we will be talking about a couple of years.

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