Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion. An entirely common-sense provision is being suggested by the Minister of State. Considering that this measure relates to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including Article 5, as mentioned by the Minister of State, it is good that these motions are discussed in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Constitutionally, it is appropriate that the relevant measures be ratified by both Houses. In the context of European legislation, it has stood us in good stead that these things interact with the national legislatures and, in a broader context, the people. The danger with some of these measures is that they proceed at a supranational level, or at European level, such that citizens do not know about them or understand what is happening. Then, all of a sudden, something happens and people wonder why or how it has come about. I welcome the fact that there is an opportunity to speak about this.

I accept what the Minister of State said about the urgency of this matter. There is a deadline and it makes sense to meet it. There is no reason we should not.

In the context of citizens and others who are going to interact with the system and who wish to understand it, I was contacted by somebody about the proposal. Very often, these motions are debated in a vacuum in some respects because there is no interaction, but somebody did contact me. One of the concerns the person had was on the protection of their information. I will say what I said to the individual concerned. It is important to note that all the protections we expect in connection with this kind of activity remain. GDPR, for example, continues to pertain in regard to any of this information. It is important to recognise that the sharing of the information in question happens at a high level only. It is not the case that ordinary officials in a bank, ordinary civil servants or people who are not connected with anti-money-laundering activities would ever have access to the information. The system operates as a high level. In this regard, the Minister of State referred to gardaí and others who are operating specifically in this sphere. Anybody who does not particularly want somebody in Poland, Sweden or Italy to know about his or her bank account details should consider the motion in the context of how the data will be used, who will have access to them and why they will be accessed. We have spoken a lot in this House about anti-money laundering provisions and provisions to stop or stymie effectively the sharing of money across the EU. We have bodies such as CAB, which celebrated its anniversary this year and which does good work. It has been effective at shutting down certain criminal organisations that have acted with impunity. Bodies such as the bureau will be enabled by the legislation. They will now be able to contact a single point of access to find out about bank accounts of people in their own jurisdiction. Previously, the bureau, for example, would have had to write to its counterparts in every EU state. That is an unsustainable system. It allows things to fall through gaps. It is much better to have the information held centrally for those who need to have access to it, and only them.

When we talk about the centralisation of information, we already know that the information is available to CAB in the context of Irish bank accounts. I do not believe anybody has a difficulty with it. It is appropriate that the authorities in this country would know, or would be able to find out, where bank accounts are held, when they were opened, etc. Having this information available to us across the EU is a natural extension of our partnership with our EU neighbours. That a border exists between us and France, for example, should not mean that the bureau cannot find out whether a person of interest to it has a series of bank accounts in Lyon, Marseille, Paris or elsewhere. This motion is a common-sense extension of the anti-money-laundering legislation that we have supported in these Houses. It is a common-sense conclusion to come to, even though I realise there are more matters to be dealt with and a 6th protocol coming down the line. It is logical to get to a point where we are sharing information with our European colleagues. Perhaps more important, we benefit from the information they share with us. This is an important motion to support because it will facilitate greater action by authorities such as CAB and An Garda Síochána in tackling money laundering, other criminal activity and the assets derived therefrom.