Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

210. To ask the Minister for Finance if the practice of short-selling shares on the Irish Stock Market has resumed; if so, when; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40446/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In 2008, Ireland, along with a number of European countries introduced a ban on the short-selling of stocks, following the Lehman's collapse. This temporary prohibition applied to the shares of banks admitted to trading on the regulated market operated by the Irish Stock Exchange the Main Securities Market.  The ban was removed from midnight on 30 December 2011.

In the aftermath of the short-selling ban, the EU Commission brought forward a legislative proposal aimed at, inter alia, overcoming the regulatory fragmentation arising from Member States' individual and varied restrictions and bans on short selling.

The Short Selling Regulation was adopted in November 2012. It introduces common EU transparency requirements and harmonises the powers that regulators may use in exceptional situations where there is a serious threat to financial stability. While the Regulation does not ban short selling, it introduces a disclosure regime and, in certain circumstances, provides regulators with powers to restrict or temporarily ban short selling. Statutory Instrument 340 of 2012 (as amended) implemented the Short Selling Regulation into Irish law. 

The Central Bank of Ireland is the national competent authority for the purpose of the Short Selling Regulations.  The Short Selling Regulations impose certain notification and disclosure obligations on legal or natural persons who hold net short positions in shares or sovereign debt or who hold uncovered positions in sovereign credit default swaps.  In this regard, position holders must register with the Central Bank details of significant net short positions in shares.

These details along with further information on the registration process can be found on the Central Bank website (see ).