Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I hear where the Deputy is coming from but I have a different read on the matter. I was involved when the deemed disposal measure came in around 2012. The reason the measure was introduced, and it did not relate to retail investors at that time, is there was a hoarding of wealth within these trusts and they were never taxed. That is the reality. People passed on and they never drew down. That was the issue but a valid point I have made, and I think Deputy Timmins made the same point, is that there are levels here.

The Minister mentioned the cost of the deemed disposal rule and he said that previously in reply to me. He said that he is not giving any indication of what he plans to do, although he has said in the past in the Dáil that the reason it is not included in the Finance Bill this year is because of the cost issue and it is something that he is continuing to work on However, the deemed disposal rule should remain in place in a certain way but it should not prevent moderate retail investors from investing in this way. There are different examples of how different jurisdictions deal with and support investment at different levels. One of the most generous regimes is probably up the road in the North, and in Britain in terms of an individual savings account or ISA, where it is allowed. There is no deemed disposal rule and no tax but there are thresholds, which could be argued to be quite high. The Government was talking about reducing them but did not do that.

On measures that have been brought in, the Minister needs to be careful. In some cases we are taking about multimillion euro that is sitting there and never being taxed, and the deemed disposal rule is about tapping into that, whereas somebody else may be talking about a couple of thousand euro and trying to build up savings through that mechanism.

We are on the same page in terms of how things have evolved over the past couple of years.

It is going to accelerate; there is no doubt about it. It not just the fact eight or nine different platforms are available and many people are using them, there is also the social media element. TikTok is driving much of this stuff for young people and we are seeing just that. We are also probably in an environment where there is a kind of bull run as well in this regard. People are seeing all of that and thinking it is always going to be rainbows and sunshine, which it is not going to be.

The issue I raised was about when I tried to deal with a constituent's query on whether they needed to file a tax return when they purchase an ETF, which was required in some cases. There is no clear simplified guidance. I ask that we get that simplified guidance on this that is available to the high street. Revenue is very good at giving the three different documents that are available on its website for different funds, depending on where they are located, but we need something that is a more Q and A style geared at people who are clicking on their Revolut or Trade Republic app or whatever it is.