Ireland launches first national anti-money laundering strategy

Sarah Twohig, financial services litigation expert at Pinsent Masons, said: “The publication of the strategy is significant because it establishes a whole-of-government framework for addressing money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.”

The national strategy (32 pages/1.36 MB PDF) follows publication of Ireland’s 2026 national risk assessment (306 pages/2.6 MB PDF), which identified money laundering as presenting the highest overall risk to the state and highlighted the need for enhanced coordination across government, regulators, law enforcement agencies and the private sector.

The strategy is described by the government as the most significant strengthening of Ireland’s anti-money laundering framework in years and forms part of a wider effort to protect the integrity of the country’s financial system.

The framework is built around three interconnected pillars: policy and oversight; safeguarding and monitoring; and investigation and enforcement. Under the strategy, authorities aim to strengthen risk assessment and policy development, improve their supervision and financial intelligence capabilities, and enhance their investigation and prosecution of financial crime offences.

"These pillars are intended to operate together to strengthen Ireland's capacity to combat financial crime and protect the integrity and stability of the financial system,” said Twohig.

Five strategic goals underpin the strategy. These are improving national coordination; identifying emerging risks through greater collaboration between state agencies and civil society; developing an evidence-based AML framework; strengthening regulatory and law enforcement capabilities; and increasing international cooperation to address the increasingly cross-border nature of financial crime.

The strategy also sets out a series of reforms and initiatives designed to support these objectives. Measures include implementation of the EU’s anti-money laundering legislative package, enhancements to beneficial ownership transparency, strengthened financial intelligence capabilities, greater information sharing between supervisory and law enforcement bodies, and measures addressing cryptoassets and emerging technologies. The government has also identified international cooperation as an area of focus.

Dublin-based Aisling Doran of Pinsent Masons said: "Businesses may wish to monitor developments relating to implementation of the EU AML package, beneficial ownership transparency, cryptoasset regulation, enhanced supervisory expectations, financial intelligence capabilities and public-private information sharing arrangements. These initiatives are likely to shape AML compliance, investigations and financial crime risk management frameworks in the years ahead."