Transparency International Ireland’s Chief Executive, John Devitt, and Head of Policy and Research, Dr Alexander Chance, were invited to meet with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach on 22 April 2026 to discuss the risks of dark money flowing through the Irish financial sector.
During the two-hour session, TI Ireland warned the Committee that weaknesses in the State’s response to dark money expose Ireland to risks linked to overseas corruption, transnational organised crime, sanctions evasion, and hostile state activity. These risks have been exacerbated by the rapid and significant growth in international capital flows via Ireland over recent years, which now total several trillion euros’ worth of assets. TI Ireland further warned that failure to acknowledge and adequately address these risks could ultimately threaten the integrity, stability and reputation of Ireland’s financial system and undermine our national security.
In particular, Mr Devitt and Dr Chance warned that:
- Resourcing of Irish law enforcement and regulators has not kept pace with the significant growth in the scale of cross-border financial flows via Ireland, meaning that key authorities lack the capacity required to police more complex transnational financial crime;
- Gaps and loopholes in the regulation of specific Irish corporate structures – such as Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) and limited partnerships – present opportunities for illicit actors to launder their assets or to raise capital to further their illegal activities overseas;
- Increased financial and corporate transparency is critical to prevent, detect and investigate illicit financial flows via Ireland, including access to beneficial ownership data and transparency around the nature, extent and impact of anti-money laundering supervision.
- Dark money is a matter of national security and democratic integrity, since financial secrecy can be used to facilitate and exert influence, interfere with democratic processes, and undermine public institutions, both domestically and overseas.
Whilst welcoming the important role of the financial services sector within the Irish economy, TI Ireland highlighted the need for a clear-eyed acknowledgment that Dublin’s role as a major international financial centre brings risks as well as economic benefits. Indeed, Mr Devitt and Dr Chance reiterated the International Monetary Fund’s stark warning in 2022 that ‘Ireland is facing substantial ML [money laundering] threat from foreign proceeds of crime due to the prominence of Ireland’s financial sector … [including] transnational organized crime, tax evasion, overseas corruption’, but that that the State’s understanding of these issues was ‘not in line with the level of international ML/TF risk’.
In their remarks, both speakers called for a more robust and coordinated State response, including strengthened enforcement, improved beneficial ownership transparency, the closure of specific gaps in the regulation of corporate structures, greater consistency in AML supervision, and increased resourcing for investigative and regulatory authorities. They also stressed the importance of aligning Ireland’s financial oversight with its foreign policy commitments to democracy, peace, accountability, and the rule of law.
Transparency International Ireland welcomed the opportunity to engage with the Committee and reiterated its priority to work collaboratively and constructively to support reforms that address these risks and enhance the integrity of Ireland’s financial system.
TI Ireland’s opening statement to the Committee can be downloaded here. A full video recording of the session is available on the Houses of the Oireachtas website here, and a transcript of the session can be accessed here.
Further information on TI Ireland’s work against dirty money can be found here.