The Republic has emerged as a hub for shell companies set up to facilitate large cross-border tax fraud schemes and money laundering, a top official in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has warned.
The Republic’s advantageous corporate tax regime has meant the State has become a destination of choice for criminal networks to incorporate “bogus” financial entities to wash dirty money and defraud European tax authorities in the process, according to the EU body’s deputy chief prosecutor.
The Republic is one of three EU states not members of EPPO, a body in operation since 2021 that investigates complex financial crimes, such as VAT fraud schemes spanning several European jurisdictions.
EPPO deputy chief prosecutor Andrés Ritter said investigators’ ability to fully map out certain criminal operations remained “incomplete”, given that the State was not a member of the EU body.
“What we can establish is that there’s a lot of shell companies being established in Ireland, which would be participating [in] VAT fraud schemes, but also then when it comes to money laundering,” he said.
Ritter said it was common for such “carousel” schemes to involve products being “sold” along a spring of connected shell companies and fronts set up across several countries, to obscure the fact VAT had not been paid, and then fraudulently claim VAT refunds back from tax authorities, before the goods were later sold on the market.
In an interview with Irish media outlets based in Brussels, Ritter, a German lawyer and prosecutor, said up to a fifth of investigations into these complex fraud schemes uncovered links to organised crime groups.
“The money that you gain actually from other criminal activities, it’s a fantastic compliment to use it to permit VAT fraud,” said the European prosecutor.
The Republic was “attractive” for criminal networks seeking to perpetrate fraud, who could also be taking advantage of the fact the country was not a member of EPPO, he warned.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan previously said the State’s common law system made it more complicated to join the organisation.
The Government has tasked officials to carry out preparatory work before a decision is made on joining.
The State had indicated it might be in a position to request to join the EU investigative body next year, said Ritter.
That would involve the EPPO establishing an office in the Republic. It would likely be staffed by two or three Irish prosecutors, who would have powers to undertake criminal investigations and charge people in the Irish courts, similar to gardaí.
Department of Justice figures show that the Republic has received more than 50 requests from the EPPO for information and assistance between 2021 and late 2025.
Ritter said about 15 requests had been made to Irish authorities last year for help. That number would be “much higher” if the State were an EPPO member because information sharing across jurisdictions would become much easier, he said.
EU investigators based in Luxembourg have been processing a high volume of requests for information from other authorities, due to the small country’s sizeable financial services and fund sector.
“There will be a lot of requests of this kind coming from colleagues in other places in Europe to Ireland,” said Ritter. “Ireland joining means really that we can have a full picture, which for the time being, can only be incomplete,” he said.
Nearly 1,600 requests for information or assistance between different jurisdictions were processed through EPPO channels last year.
Seizing shipments of drugs or arresting street dealers was only tackling one part of a criminal organisation’s operation, said Ritter. Improving co-operation at European level would help Irish investigators go after the money trail and the men behind it, said the official.