Eileen Lynch (Fine Gael)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith linn inniu. This matter relates to the need for Ireland to introduce incentivised savings and investment accounts for Irish savers. It is reported that in excess of €163 billion worth of Irish household savings are currently lying in deposit accounts in banks, earning limited interest and not being invested in the economy. In particular, approximately 85% of this money is in overnight accounts where it earns little to no interest. In reality, any value which it is raising is being eaten by inflation. At the same time, there is a significant push at EU level to get more of Europe’s savings invested in building the innovativeness, competitiveness and productivity Europe's economy needs. This has led to the so-called savings and investment union, SIU.

Just this morning, the European Commission issued a recommendation to member states to encourage them to establish incentivised savings and investment accounts which would encourage savers to invest in accessible investment products backed by shares and bonds.The Commission has recommended tax incentives for such accounts. This recommendation is all about getting savings invested in the real economy, including in financing the growth and scaling of indigenous enterprise. The Commission's recommendation will mean nothing to many EU states which already have savings and investment account models, including France, Italy, Sweden and Poland. Not just in the EU but closer to home in the UK, they have a long-established ISA model. Ireland has nothing. We do not have any bank which provides equity services, not since the SSIA, which 1.1 million Irish people took up. As a result, Ireland has been an outlier with none of our retail banks offering accessible equity-based investment accounts to savers where such offerings are the norm throughout Europe and provided in most member states.

There has been a growing chorus of calls for an Irish savings and investment account from the banks, to Insurance Ireland and, most recently, to Davys and Euronext Dublin. Polling commissioned by Euronext Dublin found that half of Irish savers say they would put some of their savings into accessible investment accounts if their banks offered it. This rockets to a 74% uptake if the Government were to add a tax incentive. The campaign has now been validated by the recommendation from the European Commission. Brussels has issued a call to action but national governments need to take up the gauntlet and, in our case, announce that Ireland will establish an Irish model of savings and investment accounts. If the Government moved quickly, we could potentially have this in place before Ireland takes up the EU Presidency in July of next year. We need to unlock the €163 billion idling on deposit and get it working for the Irish economy and for our savers. Savers, scale-ups and Irish capital markets would all win. I urge the Minister of State that now is the time for the Government to act.