Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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278. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding any initiatives under review within his Department that seek to promote investment in the stock market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66052/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Ireland possesses a high savings deposit rate which reflects the success of our economy for our citizens in recent years. These savings could provide greater returns for individual citizens and the wider economy if they were invested. However, Ireland does not yet have a diversified savings and investment culture, as a large amount of private savings are still held in low-yielding bank deposits. We are not unique in Europe in that regard.

This is the central thrust of the EU’s Savings and Investments Union (SIU) initiative. It aims to help citizens to invest more so as to increase the amount of money they have in their retirement and to use the invested money to grow businesses, thus bringing more growth to the economy.

At the EU level, the European Commission launched the SIU Strategy in March, which includes measures to advance the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project. The SIU seeks to increase investment in the economy and promote EU companies’ competitiveness through various measures, such as supporting the development of national capital markets, revitalising the securitisation market, increasing retail investor participation in capital markets, and promoting SME investment. These measures build on those contained within the CMU Action Plan of 2020, which included a number of legislative files, including the Listings Act, ESAP (European Single Access Point) and MiFID II Review, which are currently being transposed. Ireland is a strong supporter of the SIU initiative and is actively involved in its development, including measures specifically designed to promote more retail investment.

At the national level, we are reviewing the recommendations from the Funds Review. On 22 October 2024 ‘Funds Sector 2030: A Framework for Open, Resilient & Developing Markets’, also known as the Funds Review, was published. It was a wide-ranging review of the funds and asset management sector. The report made eight recommendations on the topic of retail investment, including recommendations to better align the tax on investment funds and life assurance products with that of direct equities by removing deemed disposal and aligning the rate of tax to 33%.

The report also noted that there may be merit in exploring an incentivised savings and investment account in due course and developments at EU level in the context of the EU SIU will have relevance in this regard. However, the report concluded that measures proposed for amending the existing taxation of investment funds and life assurance products should be prioritised as these address the most substantive issues raised as part of the review.

Budget 2026 marked a positive step in this regard, with amendments to be made to reduce the rate of taxation that applies to Irish and equivalent offshore funds and Irish and foreign life assurance products from 41 per cent to 38 per cent. Budget 2026 also committed to the development of a roadmap, for publication in early 2026, which will set out an approach to simplify and adapt the tax framework to encourage retail investment. It will take into account the European Commission’s recommendation on Savings and Investment Accounts published on 30 September 2025. As part of the process, a Savings and Investments forum will be convened in early 2026 to bring together stakeholders from Ireland and abroad.

Under the current Programme for Government, we have published an implementation plan taking into consideration the Funds Review recommendations to unlock retail investment and opportunities to grow this sector in Ireland. An implementation plan for consideration has subsequently been published as part of Budget 2026 on October 7.