Mayo councillor wants action on shops used for money laundering

A WESTPORT councillor has called for greater legislation to prevent 'undercover shops' from popping up in towns and villages which he claimed were being used for laundering money from 'dubious sources'.

Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn made the comments after welcoming the closure of a vape shop in Westport over the weekend. Speaking at the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District monthly meeting, Cllr Flynn said that many businesses which have opened in recent years are only used for laundering money and greater action needed to be taken to prevent 'tacky' businesses from setting up in towns and villages around the county.

“I am not talking about any specific premises when I say this but money laundering is absolutely happening through a number of premises not just in Westport but in a number of premises around Mayo and throughout the country.

“They are opening up as a front under the guise of one business or another but in reality there are very few customers going in through there but there is significant money going through the premises from very dubious sources. It is beholden on everyone around the table to play our part to make it as difficult as possible for these businesses to set up.

“These undercover shops setting up around our towns and villages have to stop and we need to take a stand and we need government legislation to back us up on this. I really hope that it will be one of the things to come out of this fiasco,” he said.

Cllr Flynn said that many of these businesses add nothing to the character of the towns they are in and are 'tacky'. He asked for the town architect to address their meeting in January to explain what is being done to ensure that businesses with plastic signs and neon lights are not encouraged.

His council colleague,Cllr Brendan Mulroy criticised the name of the vaping business at the centre of the controversy which advertised candy alongside vapes. He asked the municipal district executive if they had any powers regarding the naming of businesses.

“Can we actually stop the name of a shop? Candy and Vapes was the name on this occasion and kids were being drawn to it and there was a serious amount of anger from parents,” he said.

“If the owner of the shop did not back down it is possible that there would still be Candy and Vapes on it and I'm not too sure if there is anything we can do about it. If that is the case we need to change that ourselves.

“Anyone who has kids knows how hard it is to keep them on the straight and narrow without having a shop where candy and vapes are being promoted. We should not be encouraging our young people into smoking or vaping and put as many obstacles in the way,” added the Fianna Fáil councillor.

Seamus Ó Mongáin, Head of the Municipal District explained that what goes into a building is a legal matter and if it is legal there is not much they can do to stop it.

Cllr Flynn added that the council need to have specific criteria on what can go into a building and 'not leave retail wide open'.