Dara Robinson SC, Chair

As the competent authority for AML/CFT pursuant to section 60 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (as amended), the Law Society, via the committee, continued to fulfil its statutory obligations in relation to mandatory reporting of suspected offences.

Suspicions that money-laundering or an offence of terrorist-financing has been committed by a practising solicitor (or any other person who the Society, in the course of monitoring solicitors for AML compliance, suspects has been engaged in such activities) must be reported on to the State’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU Ireland) and the Revenue Commissioners. Competent-authority reports are filed with FIU Ireland via the goAML portal and to the Revenue Commissioners via ROS, pursuant to the provisions of section 63 of the 2010 act.

In the year ended 31 December 2025, the committee directed that 89 such reports be made.

The Law Society is also required, pursuant to the provisions of section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 2011, to report to An Garda Síochána, as soon as practicable, information in its possession that it knows or believes might be of material assistance in preventing the commission of a relevant offence or securing the apprehension, prosecution, or conviction of a person for a relevant offence. Relevant offences are listed in schedule 1 of the act, and include fraud-related offences.

During the past year, the committee directed that 48 such reports be made.

The committee also published a practice note on its role, and some anonymised case studies relating to cases reported, in the November 2025 Gazette.

I wish to thank all the members for their hard work in carrying out this vitally important statutory role, and to also thank the executive for assisting the committee in that work.