Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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123. To ask the Minister for Finance the measures he is planning to protect Ireland's equity capital market and to support the large number of professional services firms and jobs that are dependent on the presence of a vibrant domestic market. [37817/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s equity markets are diverse encompassing both public and private equity market participants and a wider ecosystem which includes a large number of professional services firms. It is clear that public equity markets in Europe, including Ireland, have been facing significant challenges over the last decade due to a variety of overlapping reasons. This includes competition from private equity and from more liquid US capital markets. The increasing importance of large stock market indices linked to the rise in passive investment strategies has also been a pull factor in listings activity gravitating towards the largest stock exchanges. As such EU solutions will need to be found to address the common challenges faced by EU exchanges.

The EU Capital Markets Union (CMU) project seeks to promote companies’ access to public equity markets through various measures, such as the establishment of EU markets infrastructure, reforms to listings rules, measures designed to increase retail investor participation in capital markets and to promote SME investment research. Ireland is a strong supporter of the CMU initiative and is actively involved in its development, including measures specifically designed to promote companies seeking to access funding through Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).

At a national level, I am aware that Euronext Dublin and the Irish Equity Market Forum have, over the course of the summer, submitted proposals to me which they suggest would help address the challenges facing equity capital markets here. These are currently being considered.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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124. To ask the Minister for Finance the way we can ensure that Irish capital markets can prosper and compete with other EU markets in the case that proposals for an EU Capital Markets Union are finalised and implemented. [37818/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Capital Markets Union (CMU) is a project which aims to deepen and further integrate Europe’s capital markets, support growth and enhance the resilience of the financial system. For Ireland, CMU has the potential to widen the sources of available funding for our companies as well as provide opportunities for our export-oriented financial services sector to contribute to a more dynamic and resilient EU economy. Accordingly, Ireland has supported the CMU project, putting forward a vision for a multi-centre of excellence CMU that can exploit the benefits of existing market places and infrastructures within Member States. Advancing the CMU project would facilitate deeper integration of Ireland’s capital market with other EU markets, augmenting competitiveness, attracting increased investment and fostering growth in innovation and sustainability

One of the key objectives of the CMU Action Plan 2020 – launched by the European Commission – was to make the EU an even safer place for citizens to invest in the long term. The Retail Investment Strategy, which has been under negotiation since 2023, is a key part of this plan and aims to achieve that goal and encourage greater participation in EU capital markets, including through national measures in the area of financial literacy. In fact Ireland has already embarked on developing a national financial literacy strategy which will support greater participation in Irish capital markets by consumers through the inclusion of retail investors and independent information on investment decisions as a priority area. The national strategy will be published by the end of the year.

It is widely recognised that, notwithstanding the significant progress made during the 2019-2024 EU legislative term in advancing the CMU under the Action Plan, more remains to be done. The Eurogroup (in inclusive format) embarked on a thematic assessment on the future of CMU and in March 2024 issued a statement which sets out priority areas of action and concrete measures for taking forward the CMU. This statement may be accessed here:

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On 14 May 2024, the Eurogroup President issued a statement which included a high level work programme on the implementation of the recommendations proposed in the March 2024 statement. This high level implementation roadmap may be accessed here: .

Ireland supports the statement and roadmap set out by the Eurogroup, which provides a solid way forward to develop proposals for legislative measures to progress the CMU. There has also been a number of high-level reports this year which address the future direction of the CMU, such as the Enrico Letta Report, Christian Noyer Report and Mario Draghi Report, as well as a paper by the European Securities and Markets Authority on how to build more effective and attractive capital markets.

Further progress on completing the CMU will require a combination of complementary top-down EU measures and bottom-up national measures. It is the collective responsibility of the EU institutions, the Members States, including its regulatory authorities, and of course capital markets participants, to ensure that further progress is made on the CMU. Ireland will continue to play a constructive and active role in this important endeavour.