John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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137. To ask the Minister for Finance the way the Government 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. [38351/24]

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:

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.