goAML Registration for Irish Architects and Engineers: The STR Filing Obligation Explained
If you are an Irish architect, engineer, or quantity surveyor involved in property transactions, you are likely a designated person under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010. That designation carries a statutory obligation to report suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing to the Financial Intelligence Unit of An Garda Síochána. The mechanism for doing so is the goAML portal.
Most construction professionals who are designated persons have never registered on goAML. Many do not know they are required to. This article explains the obligation, what triggers it, and what registration requires.
The STR Obligation
Section 42: The Obligation to Report
Section 42 of the CJ(MLTF)A 2010 requires every designated person who knows, suspects, or has reasonable grounds to suspect that another person has been or is engaged in money laundering or terrorist financing to make a disclosure to An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners as soon as practicable. This is not a discretionary obligation. It is a legal requirement, and failure to comply is a criminal offence under s.42(7).
The threshold is suspicion — not certainty, not proof, not a reasonable belief sufficient to establish a criminal standard. If a transaction or client behaviour causes a concern that could reasonably be characterised as a suspicion of money laundering, the obligation to report has been triggered.
Common indicators that trigger the suspicion threshold in construction contexts include: a client who is unwilling to explain the source of funds for a development; a transaction that involves sequential title transfers at unexplained values; a client whose stated business activity does not plausibly generate the level of funds being deployed; or a request to structure payments across multiple accounts without a commercial rationale.
The Tipping-Off Prohibition
Section 46: You Cannot Tell the Client
Section 46 of the 2010 Act prohibits any person who has made or is considering making an STR from disclosing that fact to the client or to any third party — other than their legal adviser, or in the context of the statutory report itself. This is the tipping-off prohibition.
In practice, this means that once a construction professional has formed a suspicion sufficient to require reporting, they cannot ask the client to explain the transaction in terms that would disclose that a report is being contemplated. Asking "where did these funds come from?" in the ordinary course of CDD is permissible. Asking it after forming the suspicion, in circumstances where the client could infer that a report is being made, is not.
The practical implication: your CDD process must be completed before the engagement commences, so that routine identification questions do not arise after suspicion has formed. Retrofitting CDD after a concern arises creates tipping-off exposure.
goAML Registration
How to Register and What the Process Requires
The goAML portal is operated by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of An Garda Síochána. Registration is free and is required before an STR can be filed. A designated person who has never registered but has formed a suspicion and failed to report is in breach of s.42 — the fact that they were not registered does not extinguish the obligation.
Registration requires:
- —A valid email address and the details of a named reporting officer — the individual within the practice who is responsible for receiving internal STR reports from staff and transmitting them to the FIU;
- —The name and address of the designated person's practice or firm;
- —The category of designated person — for construction professionals, this is typically listed under "property-related services" or the applicable professional category;
- —Confirmation of the practice's AML/CTF compliance policies and the identity of the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO).
Once registered, the reporting officer can log in and complete an STR through the portal. The report requires details of the client, the nature of the suspicion, the transaction or activity giving rise to it, and the estimated value of funds involved.
Internal Procedures
The Internal STR Procedure Your Practice Needs
Section 54 of the 2010 Act requires designated persons to maintain internal policies and procedures for identifying, assessing, and reporting suspicious transactions. For a construction practice, this means having a documented process by which any staff member who encounters a suspicious indicator can escalate internally to the MLRO, who then assesses whether an STR to the FIU is required.
The written procedure does not need to be lengthy. It needs to cover: who is the MLRO, how does a staff member make an internal report, what does the MLRO do with it, and what record is kept of the assessment regardless of whether an external report is made. A decision not to file an STR is a decision that must be documented — not because you were wrong, but because the audit trail of the assessment is itself an obligation.
Actions Required
- —If you are a designated person and your practice is not registered on goAML, register before any other AML compliance step — you cannot meet the s.42 obligation without it.
- —Designate a named MLRO and document the role. The MLRO is responsible for the s.42 decision — not every staff member who encounters a suspicious indicator.
- —Complete your CDD before engagements commence. The tipping-off prohibition under s.46 makes retroactive CDD legally hazardous once suspicion has formed.
- —Document every STR assessment — whether you file or decide not to. The audit trail of the decision is as important as the decision itself.
- —Brief all client-facing staff on the three most common suspicion indicators in your practice area — ensure they know who to escalate to, not that they must determine the legal standard themselves.
The goAML registration process takes under thirty minutes. The failure to register when a suspicious transaction obligation arises is a criminal exposure that takes considerably longer to resolve.
Oibrio monitors AML designation obligations for Irish construction professionals so your practice is inspection-ready.