Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 144: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has identified instances whereby organised crime has utilised or infiltrated the banking system with potential threat to the integrity and stability of the services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12744/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 145: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has in mind proposals to augment the relevant legislation to prevent the use of the financial services by organised criminals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12745/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 146: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has satisfied himself that adequate safeguards exist to prevent the use of the financial services by way of e-technology by those involved in illicit financial transactions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12746/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 147: To ask the Minister for Finance if adequate restrictions are in place to prevent the infiltration of the financial services sector by money-launderers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12747/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 148: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has satisfied himself that adequate restrictions are in place to deter or discourage money-laundering through the financial services sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12748/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 to 148, inclusive, together.

Irish legislation on money laundering is set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1994, as amended. Primary responsibility for legislation in this area rests with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. This legislation and relevant regulations made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform implemented the EU money laundering directives of 1991 and 2001 in Ireland. The procedures for the prevention of money laundering in the financial system primarily involve the requirement on financial institutions, and other designated bodies, to identify their customers, to have adequate anti-money laundering procedures in place, including staff training, to keep records and to report suspicions of a money laundering offence to the Garda Síochána and to the Revenue Commissioners.

The Financial Regulator requires all institutions which it supervises to comply with the anti-money laundering legislation and relevant sectoral guidance notes, and to have in place the necessary procedures and controls to ensure such compliance. The adequacy of such systems is reviewed by the Financial Regulator in the course of its ongoing supervision of institutions and requirements for improvement are advised to institutions as necessary. Furthermore, in accordance with its legal obligation under section 57(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1994, the Financial Regulator is obliged to make reports to the Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners where in the course of its supervision it suspects that an institution has breached the relevant money laundering provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1994.

The Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners regularly receive reports from financial institutions and other designated bodies where they suspect that a money laundering offence is being or has been committed. All such reports are investigated and progressed as appropriate by the relevant authorities.

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, FATF, the international standard setting body in this area, recently published a report on Ireland's systems to combat money laundering and terrorist funding. Ireland is one of seven countries evaluated to date in the FATF third round of mutual evaluations. Its overall ratings are comparable to those obtained by the other countries evaluated.

The revised FATF money laundering recommendations of 2003 — the standard against which Ireland's compliance was assessed — have been embodied in the third EU money laundering directive which came into force in December 2005 with a transposition deadline of December 2007. Ireland opted to be evaluated early in the third round of mutual evaluations because this would be of considerable assistance in planning the transposition of the third EU money laundering directive into Irish law. Many of the FATF recommendations on which Ireland is currently assessed as either partially compliant or non-compliant will be addressed in the transposition into Irish law of the third EU money laundering directive. These include additional measures in relation to customer due diligence, measures relating to the identification of foreign politically exposed persons, the strengthening of the sanctions for breaches of money laundering rules and the regulation of non-financial entities.

On publication of the FATF report my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and I jointly undertook to examine the report's recommendations thoroughly and gave a commitment to further strengthen Ireland's anti-money laundering mechanisms. The process of reviewing and updating the Irish legal framework to meet both our domestic needs and international obligations is already under way.