The Government should back the establishment of a €400 million cornerstone fund to invest in Irish initial public offerings , a group of officials involved in Irish equity markets said in a pre-budget submission.
The submission fleshes out headline proposals from the Euronext-led group that were previously reported by The Irish Times earlier this month, as it seeks to reboot a market that has seen the number of company listings decline by 40 per cent in the past decade to 26 today. This has been driven by companies being taken private, often in private-equity backed deals, moving listings elsewhere, and a dearth of IPO activity.
The Irish Equity Market Forum has also called on the Government to launch a tax-friendly retail investment plan along the lines of the popular schemes in some other European countries, including the individual savings accounts scheme introduced in the UK 25 years ago. The document, filed with the department in May in advance of Budget 2025, also reiterated long-standing calls from Euronext Dublin for the introduction of tax incentives to allow company founders to sell some of their shares as part of a flotation.