Written answers
Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Department of Finance
Ukraine War
Shay Brennan (Dublin Rathdown, Fianna Fail)
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434. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps being taken to identify funds held by Russian beneficiaries in section 110 special-purpose vehicle firms. [12293/25]
Shay Brennan (Dublin Rathdown, Fianna Fail)
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436. To ask the Minister for Finance how his Department ensures that section 110 special-purpose vehicle firms comply with EU sanctions against Russian entities; and the actions that will be taken against non-compliant firms. [12295/25]
Shay Brennan (Dublin Rathdown, Fianna Fail)
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437. To ask the Minister for Finance the intentions his Department has regarding the freezing or confiscation of assets linked to sanctioned Russian individuals or entities within section 110 special-purpose vehicle firms. [12296/25]
Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 434, 436 and 437 together.
The Deputy may wish to note that EU sanctions have direct effect in all Member States of the EU, and they are legally binding on all natural and legal persons. As such, a natural or legal person who contravenes a provision of an EU sanctions regulation would be guilty of an offence and liable to prosecution.
In response to Russia’s illegal invasion in Ukraine, the EU has adopted a number of EU Council Regulations (the “EU Regulations”) which comprise targeted financial restrictions against a number of individuals, bodies and corporate entities (“Designated Persons”).
Consequently, it is a criminal offence to transfer funds, to make funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, or to provide services that are prohibited under the Regulations, to Designated Persons. Additionally, accounts, funds and other assets owned, held or controlled by Designated Persons must be frozen without delay so that they cannot be made available, directly or indirectly, to Designated Persons.
If a person is involved in a breach of the EU Regulation they are guilty of a criminal offence. Furthermore, where an offence under the EU Regulations is committed by a corporate entity and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the corporate entity, or a person who was purporting to act in such capacity, that person shall, as well as the corporate entity, be guilty of an offence. All persons must supply any information related to suspected financial sanctions breaches to An Garda Síochána pursuant to the relevant EU Regulations.
The Central Bank of Ireland is one of three Competent Authorities in Ireland, the others being the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, for the administration and enforcement of restrictive measures.
The Central Bank is responsible for the administration of financial sanctions. In administering financial sanctions, the Central Bank undertakes the following:
- Receives notifications from the financial services industry of assets/funds that have been frozen under the sanctions legislation. In this regard all natural and legal persons, entities and bodies are required to report to the Central Bank information on assets held by them on behalf of individuals or entities that are subject to the asset freeze. The Central Bank collates the reports of frozen assets for onward transmission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and the EU Commission.
- Assesses applications for derogations that are permitted under the restrictive measures legislation, such as Regulation 269/2014, in respect of financial sanctions.
- Engages with the other domestic competent authorities and the European Commission to ensure that restrictive measures and financial sanctions are being implemented correctly and consistently.
In addition to the above assessment, since the implementation of the sanctions the Central Bank has significantly increased its engagement with the financial services sector in order support and ensure compliance with EU sanctions. This work includes:
The Central Bank wrote to firms to notify them of the imposition of the Russia/Ukraine sanctions and provided firms with a link to our dedicated web page on these sanctions. Furthermore, we reminded firms of the necessity to have robust processes in place to comply fully with their sanctions obligations and mitigate the risk to their businesses posed by the sanctions. Following this initial communication, and as part of our ongoing supervisory engagements with regulated entities, there has been a significant focus on Russia/Ukraine related issues and sanctions compliance.
The Central Bank continues to engage with the European Commission, our European peers, other Irish Competent Authorities and regulated entities to ensure that there is strong and ongoing awareness of and focus on the EU sanctions regime, and the need for firms to continue to effectively implement all EU sanctions.
Continuous updating of the Central Bank web page dedicated to the Russia/Ukraine sanctions to ensure that regulated entities have access to up-to-date information on financial sanctions and restrictive measure, as well as the Central Bank’s expectations in relation to compliance with these measures.
In addition to the communication and ongoing engagement with regulated entities, the Central Bank wrote to various representative bodies in the non-regulated sector to alert them to their obligations under the sanctions regulations and to remind them in particular of the obligation to freeze and report the assets of sanctioned individuals.
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