Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 July 2026
130. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will extend a stamp duty exemption to companies dual-listed in the US and Ireland as a means of protecting and boosting the level of listings on Irish equity capital markets. [49952/26]
View answerIt has been the Government’s consistently held view that Ireland’s capital markets are essential to the growth of homegrown businesses, especially those aiming to expand internationally.
The 2025 Programme for Government “Securing Ireland’s Future” states that the Government will “Explore opportunities to enhance the Irish Stock Exchange as a vital source of equity and growth for indigenous businesses”.
A central component of my Department’s policy in this area is to enable Irish companies to be able to access US capital markets which are acknowledged to be amongst the most liquid capital markets globally.
This explains why American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are exempted from the 1% Stamp Duty that applies on acquisitions of the shares in Irish registered companies under section 90 of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999. This mechanism enables Irish companies not listed in the US capital markets to raise capital in those markets.
In addition to the use of ADRs for raising capital on North American markets, a number of large Irish firms have listed on the New York Stock Exchange and have issued shares directly into that market for capital raising purposes and these are cleared and held by the US Central Securities Depositary (CSD), the Depositary Trust Company (DTC). These are also exempt from Stamp Duty. Therefore, the Department is satisfied that it is achieving its primary policy objective of enabling Irish companies raise capital in US market through the provision of a Stamp Duty exemption. Without this exemption trades such as the ones above could not occur.
While proposals such as the one set out in this PQ are received and assessed, as the Deputy will be aware, it is a longstanding practice of the Minister for Finance not to comment, in advance of the Budget, on any tax matters that might be the subject of Budget decisions.
