Harris opens ownership records to eligible applicants
Journalists, campaigners and researchers will have a clearer route to information about the individuals behind companies, trusts and financial vehicles. The Irish measures aim to expose concealed wealth while retaining privacy safeguards and requiring evidence of legitimate interest.
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has announced arrangements giving eligible applicants a clearer route to information about the people behind companies, trusts and certain financial vehicles.
Investigative journalists, civil society organisations, academics and others who can demonstrate a qualifying legitimate interest may apply for specified information on Ireland’s beneficial ownership registers. Beneficial owners are the individuals who ultimately own or control an entity, even when their interest is held through layers of companies or legal arrangements.
Harris said the measures would help scrutiny of structures used to conceal criminal wealth. “Money laundering is not a victimless crime,” he said, adding that hidden money can be the proceeds of drug trafficking, fraud, human trafficking and other serious offences.
The arrangements implement provisions of the EU’s Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. Access is not unrestricted, and safeguards remain in place to protect personal information.
Applicants must contact the relevant registrar, identify the entity or arrangement concerned and provide evidence of their legitimate interest. The registrar will decide whether the statutory conditions have been met. The changes are an initial step in a wider programme against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.