Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their remarks. I acknowledge in particular the support for the Bill from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. I would hope we could proceed to the next Stage at the earliest opportunity. This is an important piece of legislation. It will enable Ireland to meet its international obligations.

A number of points have been raised and I want to refer in the first instance to the point raised by Senator Clifford-Lee. Seventeen member states transposed the directive between the deadline of 17 July and this year. That leaves a number of states with outstanding obligations. I want to assure Senators that, notwithstanding the fact that infringement proceedings have commenced, we have been in contact with the European Commission. My Department and I are continuing to place a very high priority on transposing EU measures, but in particular this one, notwithstanding the complex and technical nature of it. We have been working with our European colleagues to ensure we have a robust and extensive framework in place to deal with money laundering.

Senator Ó Céidigh raised a number of issues regarding sanctions. The economic sanctions regime in Ireland is based on EU regulations. We work in conjunction with our EU colleagues. We work closely with them. We ensure that any sanctions applied - any sanction regime to which we are associated - are based on an EU approach, which are in turn transposed by means of a statutory instrument signed in general by the Minister for Finance and, for the time being, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation. Each of those statutory instruments designates a particular entity or group for sanctions and creates an offence of breaching the sanction. Any offence of this nature, like all other offences, is a matter for An Garda Síochána but we do that in sync with our EU colleagues, and we transpose the agreement by way of a domestic statutory instrument.

I want to acknowledge also the role of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on this issue insofar as the Department, through the Foreign Affairs Council of Ministers, which meets on a monthly basis, deals with these issues such as sanctions on a country-by-country basis on a month-to-month basis or three monthly, as the case might be. I refer in particular to the current regime of sanctions relating to Russia and its illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea as part of Ukraine. As an individual Government or state, we do not engage unilaterally in any sanction regime but we do introduce our own domestic statutory instrument in accordance with what we would agree at a European Council basis. I would be happy to engage further with Senator Ó Céidigh and if he wishes to make a submission in advance of the next Stage of the Bill, I would be happy to look at the issues as raised.

I want to mention a point raised by Senator Ó Donnghaile relating to gambling. He is right. This is an issue that will require further action on the part of Government. I acknowledge the work my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Stanton, is embarking upon in that regard. The current gambling regime is in need of modernisation and since the 1956 Act, the gambling regime has changed dramatically in the context of new practices based in particular, but not exclusively, on a wide range of technological advances. This is an issue my Department is very keen to ensure we can advance. It is an area of some complexity and one in which we have been engaging with many of the stakeholders involved. I would hope that in the coming months we will be in a position to bring forward a range of amendments in that regard, notwithstanding the complexity.