Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 276 and 310 together.

In November 2022 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled, in Joined Cases C-37/20 and C-601/20, that a provision of the EU AML directive, under which information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities, held in central registers, must be provided to the general public, is invalid. The Court found that the provision interfered with the rights recognised in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

To ensure our domestic legislation complied with the Court’s ruling, and following consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, a Statutory Instrument was prepared to amend Regulations which govern two of Ireland’s registers of beneficial ownership information - the Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial & Provident Societies (RBO), which operates under the auspices of the Companies Registration Office, and the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles, Credit Unions and Unit Trusts, which is operated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

As Minister for Finance, I signed into law the relevant Regulations: S.I. 308 of 2023, the European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

As the Deputy is aware, I have asked my officials to examine this issue further and to assess whether it is possible, currently, to allow for greater access to the registers of beneficial ownership within the parameters of EU law and in a manner consistent with the ECJ judgement. In that regard, my officials are examining potential legislative amendments to achieve greater transparency taking into consideration the current EU AML law (as interpreted by the ECJ judgement) and to pre-empt the requirements for this area under the New AML Rule Book which is expected to be agreed this month. As is the usual practice, Ireland will have a set period to transpose the new EU AML Directive and aspects of the Regulation – within two and three years respectively.