Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 315 and 316 together.

On 17th May 2023, officials from my Department met Rahav Shalom Revivo, Head of Financial-Cyber Innovation and International Engagement at the Israeli Ministry of Finance to discuss cyber security in the financial sector. The regulatory landscape for financial services in Israel and Ireland was discussed and Ms Shalom Revivo provided an overview of her work on the development crisis management frameworks to mitigate the impact of cyber-attacks.

On 18th May 2023, Minister of State Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Department of Finance officials met Ms Shalom-Revivo at Dublin Castle. Ms. Shalom-Revivo was a speaker on the Fraud, Error and Debt Panel at the Global Government Fintech Lab at Dublin Castle on 18 May. Topics discussed at the meeting included the work of the Israeli Ministry of Finance in the area of cybersecurity, the cyber threats to the financial services sector and ensuring women are encouraged to take up senior positions in the sector.

The bodies under the aegis of my Department have advised as follows:

Since 2021, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), which is a part of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), has had only one direct engagement in Israel and that was in May 2021 with the Israeli Innovation Authority by email. As part of ISIF’s Sustainability and Responsible Investment (SRI) Strategy, ISIF pursues Active Ownership through its engagement manager, EOS at Federated Hermes, who would engage with a variety of companies both within the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.

For completeness, NTMA staff in other areas, such as New ERA and Funding and Debt Management, will have been in attendance at Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Parties and at other fora where Israeli delegates would also have been in attendance.

ISIF has had no direct engagement with the Palestinian Authority, any organ of the Palestinian Authority, or any engagement within, or with organisations in, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the years 2021, 2022 and to-date in 2023.

The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) did not have bi-lateral engagement with the government of Israel, any state body of the government of Israel, or any engagement within or with Israel in the years 2021, 2022 and to-date in 2023. However, OCAG is a member of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), which are autonomous, independent and non-political organisations. Israel is also a member of both organisations. As a member of both organisations, representatives of OCAG attended/presented at number of conferences/webinars.

OCAG has had no engagement with the Palestinian Authority, any organ of the Palestinian Authority, or any engagement within, or with organisations in, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the years 2021, 2022 and to-date in 2023.

The International Tax Division of the Revenue Commissioners has regular engagement with the tax administrations and Ministries of Finance of other jurisdictions, including Israel, in the performance of its functions. Details of engagements during the period 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023 are as follows:

• Ireland and Israel are among 101 jurisdictions that are signatories and parties to the OECD Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“MLI”). The effect of the MLI is to modify the application of signatories covered tax treaties to implement the MLI’s agreed minimum standards and best practices. Signatories can develop, in consultation with their treaty partner, synthesised texts to help to ensure a consistent interpretation of the application of the MLI’s provisions to each covered tax treaty. Revenue follows this good administrative practice. In that regard, Revenue and the Israeli Ministry of Finance have had email exchanges for the purposes of developing a synthesised text for the application of the Double Taxation Treaty between Ireland and Israel as modified by the MLI.
• The International Cooperation unit assisted a tax official from the Israel Tax Authority with two requests regarding our general taxation system.
• Ireland and Israel are part of the 147 jurisdictions that participate in the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters to allow for exchange of information on tax matters and are signatories of the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreements to allow for automatic exchange of information under the Common Reporting Standard and Country by Country Reporting. The exchanges themselves, including whether or not an exchange took place, are confidential.
• In addition, it should be noted that both Ireland and Israel are members of the OECD and participate in forums, bodies and working parties facilitated by the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. Such forums and bodies include the Forum on Tax Administration and its network the Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC), the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes and the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices. Working parties include those focusing on international taxation issues such as tax conventions, tax policy analysis and tax statistics, consumption taxes, Exchange of Information and tax compliance and aggressive tax planning.

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners has had no engagement with the Palestinian Authority, any organ of the Palestinian Authority, or any engagement within, or with organisations in, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the years 2021, 2022 and to-date in 2023.

The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) engages with a large number of other central banks internationally, both directly and through its involvement in international organisations. The following are the engagements with Israel since 2021:

• On February 8th 2021, the Governor of the CBI received a letter from the former Ambassador of Israel in Ireland, with regard to Israel’s request to join the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The Governor responded via letter on February 17th 2021, advising that the Minister for Finance was Ireland’s representative and Governor at the ADB, and that the Ambassador’s letter had been forwarded to the Department of Finance.
• On May 27th 2021, officials from CBI virtually met with officials of the Bank of Israel. The meeting was requested by the Bank of Israel, and was to discuss the CBI’s Innovation Hub, including the purpose and mission of the Innovation Hub and how it is structured, managed and operated. After the meeting, the CBI followed up via email with responses to questions from the Bank of Israel.
• Officials from the Bank of Israel attended an International Operational Risk Working Group virtual event in May 2021, which was hosted by the CBI. This is an international group, covering around 100 central banks and monetary authorities, in which both the CBI and Bank of Israel are members.
• On January 10th 2023, CBI officials met virtually with officials from the Bank of Israel to discuss organisational risk related issues. The meeting was requested by the Bank of Israel.
• On January 27^th2023, Sharon Donnery (Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation) attended a Holocaust memorial event in the European Central Bank alongside Israeli dignitaries and other international representatives.
• Following an introduction from the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, the Israeli Embassy arranged a visit to the CBI for the Head of Financial-Cyber Innovation and International Engagement in the Israel Ministry of Finance to exchange views on financial cyber issues. The visit took place on May 17th 2023. There has been no follow up engagement since the meeting.
• In June 2023, staff from the Central Credit Register (which is established by the CBI under the Credit Reporting Act 2013), met some Bank of Israel staff informally at the 2023 ACCIS Annual Conference, which many different organisations attend. Consequent to this, the CBI responded briefly via e-mail to some technical questions concerning how it manages SME credit within the Irish Central Credit Register and associated matters. There has been a recent approach regarding a potential future meeting, but nothing has been agreed in that regard.

In addition, over the course of the period specified, CBI officials have responded by email to information requests from the Bank of Israel, including on topics such as corporate governance, administrative budgeting, and risk management.

Throughout this period, Israeli delegates will have attended various international fora which the Central Bank is involved in (i.e. the Bank for International Settlements, the IMF Spring/Annual Meetings, etc.).

The following are the engagements by the CBI with the Palestinian Monetary Authority since 2021:

• In May 2021, officials from the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) attended an International Operational Risk Working Group virtual event, which was hosted by the CBI. This is an international group, covering around 100 central banks and monetary authorities, in which both the CBI and Palestinian Monetary Authority are members.
• In March 2023, the CBI hosted a study visit from the PMA. The visit was organised and funded by the European Commission, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations as part of its Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) programme, which supports the public administrations of partner countries with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation as well as facilitating the sharing of EU best practices. The purpose of the visit was to provide an overview on the CBI’s approach to resolution and crisis management.

Throughout the period referred to, Palestinian delegates may have attended various international fora which the Central Bank was also involved in.