Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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324. To ask the Minister for Finance for an update on Ireland's position on the move to a European Capital Markets Union; if he will outline the benefits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8110/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Capital Markets Union (CMU) is a flagship project within EU financial services policy 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.

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.

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 in the past 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.

Ireland is a strong supporter of the CMU project. In November 2024, Ireland along with 8 other Member States put forward a vision for a multi-centre of excellence CMU that can leverage the benefits of existing market places and infrastructures within Member States. Making progress on CMU 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. At EU level, a further deepening of the EU’s capital markets will be instrumental in unlocking the significant levels of funding that European companies require to scale up, innovate, and become more competitive, as well as to manage the green and digital transitions.

In particular, there are areas highlighted in the Joint Statement that Ireland and others believe will offer the most return on impact and deliverability, and these include:

• support the development of national capital markets and their greater integration within EU capital markets (bottom-up measures),
• increase retail investor participation,
• stimulate (in particular) equity funding for start-ups and scale-ups,
• simplify the regulatory environment,
• revitalise the securitisation market,
• remove barriers that impede the seamless use of the EU passport and hence the marketing and distribution of cross-border pan-European products and services.