To Russia, No Love

With the worlds of politics and business colliding, questions are being asked that go right to the core of our neutrality and our financial services sector. Is Ireland playing Russian roulette?

Many of the Russian businesses that ultimately control Irish Section 110 companies are powerful, Kremlin-connected entities Picture: Getty

The Money

Jack Horgan-Jones

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has a line he likes to use when he’s asked about Russian-linked IFSC companies.

Quoting a report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), he says that “Ireland has a sound and substantially effective regime to tackle money-laundering and terrorist financing”. Which is true – it does say that.

But the report actually says a lot more – and not all of it is ...