Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I extend my congratulations to the Leas-Chathaoirleach. He is a long-serving Member of the Oireachtas and it is fitting that he now fulfils the role of Leas-Chathaoirleach. I also extend my congratulations to the Minister of State in his new role and thank him for bringing forward this legislation.

I share the concerns articulated by Senator Gavan about the timing of the Bill and the use of valuable Seanad and Dáil time to debate it. I acknowledge that there are sections within it that are long awaited by those working in the financial services sector and that the Bill is a commitment in the programme for Government, but in the same vein we are in the middle of a global pandemic and urgent legislation is required to assist workers and their families and SMEs. It seems bizarre and ill timed to have this legislation before the House now. Indeed, there is a certain irony that a debate has just concluded in the Lower House about the need for sick pay. There was a great deal of talk in that debate about the need to help SMEs and about why sick pay could not be introduced now to help workers who do not have access to paid sick leave in their workplaces and why they must wait for six months. There is an irony that people who very much need something in the context of the pandemic are being told to wait when this Bill is before us today.

There is significant employment from financial services in this country, and it is a welcome source of employment, but the Bill's provisions arguably seek to intensify our share of employment that is reliant on highly mobile capital. As a vision for employment and our future economy, serious questions must be asked about whether we need to put such emphasis on developing a financial hub and having so much employment based in financial services, given those services' highly mobile nature and the competition that exists internationally for that money. At the end of the day, private equity is about the domiciling of funds in a particular country and benefiting from the regulatory and tax regimes within same.

The Minister of State has had to table a very technical Bill. We recognise the necessity of updating the 1994 Act and modernising the law around investment limited partnerships, ILPs, that the Bill seeks to meet, in particular regarding its AML provisions. The main change between this Bill and its 2019 version is the addition, as promised last year, of sections relating to beneficial ownership, on which Senator D'Arcy and the Minister of State spoke, and the compilation of registers. This is to be welcomed in the interests of transparency and placing all investment vehicles on a level playing field. When looking back through the record of the Bill's debate in the Dáil, I noted that the then Minister of State, Senator D'Arcy, spoke about the register going beyond the legal requirements and the precedents set by other countries.It is welcome that there will be a register. However, we should not pat ourselves on the back for that. We need to strive for standards of transparency above and beyond those of other countries. This is very important in the context of the reputational aspect of Ireland trying to attract financial services and any other international capital. While it is a different area of taxation, we are well aware that Ireland has been characterised as a tax haven, rightly or wrongly, by others. Although we might dispute that characterisation, we must remain cognisant that the eyes of the world are often on the Irish financial system and that we need to behave in a way that puts us beyond reproach. Transparency must be a keystone value of the entire regulatory system in this country.

I support and echo Senator D'Arcy's question about PPS numbers and seek clarity on the situation for non Irish resident investors.

My final point relates to access to the central register of beneficial interest. It is one thing for it to be provided for in law but how it exists in reality is another matter. I ask that the mechanisms to access the register be truly accessible and comprehensible and that it is not restricted, by either price or access, to those with an inside knowledge of the industry. We need to strive to ensure confidence in the nature and activities of these funds. Bearing in mind that these funds do not enjoy widespread public support, particularly with regard to private equity and where that money has been put in other countries, we need to ensure we have confidence in the nature and activities of the funds operating from these shores. The information pertaining to their ownership must be properly accessible and the overall regulatory regime transparent.