Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 October 2021
95. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he plans to amend the Limited Partnership Act 1907; if not, if he will take other measures to prevent the use of limited partnerships in the State to facilitate offshore tax evasion or money laundering; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50022/21]
View answer96. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the policy steps he will take in response to the release of documents (details supplied) and Ireland's role in same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50023/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 96 together.
The recent revelations from Pandora Papers give rise to a number of questions which we need to get to the bottom of as they raise serious reputational concerns.
The Government leaders decided that we would ask officials in the Department of Finance and in my Department to initiate work right away to examine these issues.
On taxation while this is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Finance, I understand that Ireland participates in several International initiatives on the Automatic Exchange of Information for tax compliance purposes. Furthermore, Ireland is an active member of the OECD’s Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) Network. It has already started discussions in respect of the Pandora Papers leak and, as it has with previous leaks, will respond quickly. Through JITSIC participation Ireland will continue to work together with partners to pool resources, share intelligence and use existing frameworks to investigate relevant arrangements identified through the Pandora Papers data.
On limited partnerships, the most important safeguard against the misuse of business structures is transparency. A public consultation on the Review of the Limited Partnership Act 1907 was carried out in 2019 and it is intended to bring forward a General Scheme of a Limited Partnerships Bill in 2022.
The objective of the reform of the 1907 Act is to modernise and reform the legislation given the significant developments in laws governing business activity since its enactment. A particular focus will be increased transparency requirements, for example, increasing the information requirements at registration and introducing regular reporting obligations.
