Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As was said, this is a highly technical Bill which seeks to make a contingency provision for the transfer of the settlement of trades in Irish equities and other securities from CREST in London to Euroclear in Belgium as a result of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. The CSDs allow the transfer of securities and financial instruments to the electronic book entries in a central register rather than through physical delivery. Ireland has relied on the CSD based in London. The CSD is operated by Euroclear UK & Ireland, which uses a settlement system knows as CREST. I am not going to go into all that is covered in the Bill. It has been covered quite comprehensively. However, it does raise the question as to why we are not like other countries. The Minister of State might address that. Why do we not have the CSD based in the financial services in London rather than in another country? Following the decision to move its settlement to Euroclear Belgium, I understand that a White Paper was published in May to set out a new model for the market. It speaks again to the impact of Brexit and our dependence. It is important for us to have a positive relationship with our neighbours but I think we will increasingly see how we need to be as in charge as we can about all of our affairs, our financial and other affairs, within this State.