Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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898. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if gardaí will no longer sign ML10 forms for persons who need it to prove identity at financial institutions; the potential reasons for not signing it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55566/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that, the ML10 form was rescinded by An Garda Síochána on 5 August. The forms had originally been introduced to support provisions under Section 32 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994 which were repealed when the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 was introduced. The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) formed the view that there was insufficient legal basis to support continued use of the forms. 

The identity management framework in the State is spread across several Departments and bodies including Social Protection, Foreign Affairs and Transport.

I am advised that the Financial Intelligence Unit engaged on plans of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau to rescind the ML10 with the Banking Payments Federation of Ireland and engaged separately with the Irish League of Credit Unions, Credit Union Development Association, Credit Union Managers Association and PAYAC.  

The Deputy may be aware that the 2010 Act does not specify the types of documentation to be used by designated businesses (either financial or non-financial) for customer due diligence (identification and verification) purposes.

The Central Bank of Ireland has issued Anti-Money Laundering guidelines which are available on their website www.centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/regulation/amld-/guidance/anti-money-laundering-and-countering-the-financing-of-terrorism-guidelines-for-the-financial-sector.pdf?sfvrsn=9 

The Central Bank is the competent authority responsible for supervising financial institutions under the 2010 Act. 

The Central Bank has not included prescriptive / definitive examples of documentation that it considers would satisfy customer identification and verification requirements. It says that firms, in applying a risk-based approach, should maintain their own lists of documents, which they will accept, in satisfaction of this obligation and in accordance with relevant Sections 33 to 39 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 as amended that set out obligations on customer due diligence.  

Firms that are subject to regulation for money laundering purposes should set out in their written policies and procedures (which each designated business must have under section 54 of the Act) the documents and information which they are willing to accept and the circumstances under which they are willing to accept them in order to identify and verify the identity of their customer in circumstances where due diligence purposes must be carried out. Firms should retain records evidencing identity in either paper or electronic format. It is a matter for designated businesses to set out their policies and procedures in relation to identification and verification of their customers and to satisfy their supervisory body (in the case of credit and financial institutions – this is the Central Bank) as to the adequacy of the arrangements.

The Banking Payments Federation of Ireland also publish guidance on documents that may be acceptable for the purposes of identification and verification in the context of customer due diligence. The guidance is available on their website - bpfi.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Final-BPFI-Guide-to-Opening-Bank-Accounts-in-Ireland-for-Protection-Applicants-Final.pdf  

This guidance indicates that while passport and EU or Irish driving licence are accepted as standard forms of proof of identity, a bank will accept alternative documents as proof of identity, if the applicant does not have either a passport or a driving licence. These include, for example: Irish Residence Permit; Temporary Residence Certificate or Irish Government Travel Document (UN Issued.)