Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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56. To ask the Minister for Finance when he expects limited partnership legislation to be introduced; the number of limited partnerships established here each year since 2013; the way in which this compares with other European countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23088/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Due to changes in the global private equity market in both structure and relevant European legislation, there is a need to update the Investment Limited Partnership (ILP) Act 1994. This objective has been included in the IFS2020 Action Plan which commits to developing amendments to the Investment Limited Partnership Act 1994 to make the structure more attractive to fund managers.

My Department sought and obtained approval from the Government for the preparation of Heads of Bill in 2017. The Heads of Bill have been sent to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and a drafter has been assigned to work on this.

The Bill appears on the legislative programme for 2018 and it is anticipated that the draft legislation will be developed in the second half of the year with the intention for the Bill to be considered by the House before the end of this year.

I have been informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that there are currently 7 Investment Limited Partnerships authorised by it and they supplied the following breakdown:

With regard to Limited Partnerships, the relevant legislation that applies to these is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation. I have been informed by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation of the numbers of Limited Partnerships established in Ireland since 2013, and this is outlined in the following table.

I have also been informed by the Central Bank of Ireland and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation that they do not have any statistics on the numbers of Limited Partnerships or Investment Limited Partnerships established in other parts of Europe. The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation point out however that based on data from Companies House (UK), the number of Limited Partnerships Incorporated in the UK at end of period:

With regard to other European countries, Limited Partnerships as a structure are either not available in other European countries or are not directly comparable to the structures within Ireland. For example Germany has a partnership structure that is utilised for investment funds but the structure differs to that within Ireland, and France has introduced a form of limited partnership in 2015.