Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 April 2025
366. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Finance how he proposes to work closely with the Irish Stock Exchange to ensure future growth, focusing particularly on small-to-medium-sized fast-growing companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17417/25]
View answer367. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Finance how he will be exploring opportunities to enhance the Irish Stock Exchange as a vital source of equity and growth for indigenous businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17418/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 366 and 367 together.
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 European Commission has launched the Savings and Investments Union (SIU) Strategy, which includes measures to advance the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project and which has support from Ministers and Heads of States and Governments. Amongst the CMU proposals are measures that seek 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. 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. The SIU Strategy then will build on the progress made by the CMU Action Plan. Ireland is a strong supporter of the SIU 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 last year, submitted proposals to me which they suggest would help address the challenges facing equity capital markets here. These continue to be considered.
