I strongly welcome the Tánaiste's commitment to developing a national savings and investment strategy. It is the right direction, and there is obviously clear support for it. Irish households are strong savers, but too much of that money is sitting in low-yield accounts quietly losing value to inflation. If we are serious about building a culture of long-term investing, we must remove the barriers that discourage participation. The reduction in the exit tax rate on gains from 41% to 38% in the budget was a positive step. However, as long as the eight-year deemed disposal rule on exchange traded funds, ETFs, remains in place, long-term retail investors continue to be penalised. Taxing unrealised gains and interrupting compounding directly undermines the long-term behaviour we are trying to promote. If this strategy is to genuinely unlock investment, the eight-year deemed disposal rule should be removed. This strategy is a really important step forward. I ask the Tánaiste to continue his ongoing engagement with the industry and to seriously consider removing the deemed disposal rule under the strategy.

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