Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The threat of US tariffs has made it even more urgent for us to support Irish indigenous companies, and the Stock Exchange is crucial to this goal. While foreign multinational companies have created great prosperity in this State, geopolitical difficulties have underscored the need to ensure a positive regulatory landscape for Irish companies to grow and succeed in. Ireland will assume the Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2026. I hope that the implementation of the EU savings and investments union will be a core priority of our Presidency.

There has been much media attention - indeed too much - on delistings from the Irish market. Delistings are a natural part of the cycle. Last year, there were 129 delistings across seven Euronext markets. Only five of these happened in Ireland. The problem is not the scale of delisting but the lack of a pipeline of new companies seeking to list. From other European and Euronext markets with pipelines of new listings, we have seen that government policy has significant influence. Reducing exit taxes on exchange-traded funds, ETFs, may incentivise investment in such funds and lead to more trade on exchanges. Unless there are accompanying policy initiatives to increase the number of new listings, however, reducing these taxes will not guarantee the future of the Irish Stock Exchange and ETFs will be of no benefit to Ireland's real economy or Irish companies. There are not enough Irish stocks or stocks traded in Ireland to put into an ETF basket. Even if exit taxes were reduced, the rate would still be 33% higher than the 0% we have proposed for an incentivised saving and investment account scheme, which would be subject to an investment limit of €40,000 and which we believe would have a much greater impact on shifting domestic savings into productive investments in the real economy.

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