An Garda Síochána

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 June 2022

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Questions (1329, 1330)

Pa Daly

Question:

1329. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice her views on the processing of the ML10 money laundering identity verification forms by An Garda Síochána; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30029/22]

Pa Daly

Question:

1330. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice if the ML10 money laundering identity verification forms can be authorised in any An Garda Síochána station; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30030/22]

Written answers

Minister for Justice

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1329 and 1330 together.

Under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 as amended, designated financial and non-financial businesses are required to identify their customers and verify who they are. There is a need for anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism purposes to have reasonable certainty that the person is who they say they are. The common standard as set out in the guidelines issued by the Central Bank is that customers undertaking certain transactions present official Government-issued photographic identification.

A driver’s licence or passport are acceptable documents in this regard. In order to verify the customer’s identity, proof of address is sought in the form of a utility bill, bank statement or official correspondence. Under the legislation, there is an onus on designated businesses to gather this information prior to carrying out a transaction (e.g. prior to a customer being able to collect gambling winnings of a certain value.)

Where a customer indicates that they don’t have any official government issued photographic identification such as a driving licence or passport, the customer may as an alternative complete an ML10 form available from a Garda station which a Garda can sign on behalf of an applicant to confirm their identity.

The designated business may accept this along with proof of address as an alternative. ML10 forms may be processed by any Garda station. 

I am advised by the Garda Commissioner that a review of the ML10 Form is currently underway. 

The Banking Payments Federation of Ireland also publish guidance on documents that may be acceptable for the purposes of identification and verification in the context of customer due diligence. The guidance is available on their website via the following link - Final-BPFI-Guide-to-Opening-Bank-Accounts-in-Ireland-for-Protection-Applicants-Final.pdf .

It indicates that while passport and EU or Irish driving licence are accepted as standard forms of proof of identity, a bank will accept alternative documents as proof of identity, if the applicant does not have either a passport or a driving licence. These include, for example: Irish Residence Permit; Temporary Residence Certificate or Irish Government Travel Document (UN Issued.)

Question No. 1330 answered with Question No. 1329.