It comes just two months after legislation transposing the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive into Irish law was brought into effect.

The new Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2019 will include provisions to:

• prevent risks associated with the use of virtual currencies for terrorist financing and limiting the use of pre-paid cards;
• improve the safeguards for financial transactions to and from high-risk third countries;
• broaden the scope of designated bodies under the existing legislation;
• enhance the customer due diligence (CDD) requirements of the existing legislation;
• prevent credit and financial institutions from creating anonymous safe-deposit boxes;
• include a number of technical amendments to other provisions of the Acts already in force.

The bill also allows for provisions which are not required by the Directive but will support CAB and An Garda Síochána with regard to their power to access bank records and the administration of their functions in respect of anti-money laundering.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said: “This is another important piece of legislation for tackling money-laundering. The reality is that money laundering is a crime that helps serious criminals and terrorists to function, destroying lives in the process.

“Criminals seek to exploit the EU’s open borders and EU-wide measures are vital for that reason. Ireland strongly supports the provisions in the Fifth EU Money Laundering Directive.”