2026-02-10

168. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance his views on amending the ETF deemed disposal rule to encourage retail investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10082/26]

175. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department will reconsider the current 38% exit tax on unrealised gains for ETFs, which is discouraging prudent saving; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10056/26]

Tá Ceist Uimh. 168 á tógáil le Ceist Uimh. 175. Níl go leor ama againn ach chun an cheist a chur agus an freagra a fháil ón Aire.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 175 together. I thank Deputies Ó Muirí and Neville for their questions. The starting point for this conversation has to be that we live in a country where we have a high level of savings on deposits and we need to support people who are seeking greater returns on their hard-earned savings. Work is continuing on the development of a roadmap for the taxation of retail investment. We announced in budget 2026 that this work was under way. I expect to receive proposals shortly and I hope to be in a position then to bring this roadmap to Government. It will set out an approach to simplify and adapt the tax framework to further support retail investment while obtaining the necessary and important anti-avoidance protections in a proportionate manner. The Government and I are very clear: retail investment needs to be encouraged. It is set out in the programme for Government. It is consistent with our work at an EU level on the savings and investment union, in which I expect us to take a leadership role during our Presidency of the EU Council as well. There is a complexity to all of this in how we tax ETFs, the rate of exit tax and the application of deemed disposal, and we need to work our way through this. An ETF is an investment fund that is traded in a regulated stock exchange. There is no separate taxation regime specifically for ETFs. ETFs, being collective investment funds, generally come within the regimes set out in the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 for such funds. I look forward to and want to engage with Deputies Ó Muirí and Neville on this. While it is complex from a taxation point of view, we need to get it right. Detailed consideration will be given to ensure any changes in this area achieve an appropriate balance between supporting retail investment and maintaining appropriate anti-avoidance protections. If we get it right, it can be a democratisation of wealth in many ways, where the squeezed middle can start participating in a savings and investment account structure that gives them a much greater return than what they are saving in a deposit account.