Ireland pushes cross-border crackdown on money laundering and criminal assets

Catherine Ardagh, the minister of state for international law, law reform and youth justice, represented Ireland at an informal conference of justice ministers convened by the Council of Europe. The talks focused on the increasingly transnational nature of money laundering and terrorist financing, with ministers examining legal, technological and organisational responses.

Ms Ardagh said: “Ireland, along with our Council of Europe partners, recognise the increasingly transnational and complex nature of money laundering and terrorist financing.

“The exchanges today underlined the need for a coordinated, international response to effectively detect and combat the laundering of the proceeds of crime, including by closing any potential gaps that might be exploited by criminals. This includes taking a multi-disciplinary and increasingly specialist approach to investigating financial crime, an approach very much in line with Ireland’s Multi-Annual Strategy to Combat Economic Crime and Corruption which will soon be published.”

Ministers discussed the role of prevention, intelligence gathering and detection in combating financial crime, including new European Union and Council of Europe structures designed to improve analysis capabilities through specialist training, tools and services.

The conference also examined how new EU anti-money laundering legislation could facilitate information-sharing partnerships between public authorities and private-sector organisations.

Ms Ardagh said: “The new package of EU anti-money laundering legislation allows for the establishment of partnerships for information sharing purposes.

“When information sharing is legally clear, technologically enabled, and strategically aligned with law enforcement priorities, financial intelligence shifts from being a compliance output to being a frontline crime fighting tool.”

A further strand of discussions focused on the “follow the money” approach to organised crime and the recovery of criminal assets across national borders.

Highlighting Ireland’s approach, Ms Ardagh said: “Depriving criminals, organised crime groups and corrupt actors of assets has been a central plank of Ireland’s approach to combatting economic crime and corruption since the 1990s.

“The Proceeds of Crime and Related Matters Bill (2025), was introduced to update and strengthen Ireland’s non-conviction based asset recovery and confiscation framework by enhancing the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau and streamlining the procedures for freezing and recovering criminal assets.”