The Republic of ireland, after Luxembourg, is the third largest global domicile for investment funds, the largest being the USA, and, in between election cycles in the European, the US, Ireland itself, and indeed its nearest neighbour, the UK, the irish Government commissioned a major evaluation of its funds industry, entitled, “Funds 2030”, published in October 2024, and authored by the Irish Department of Finance. Coinciding with its publication, the Finance Minister, Jack Chambers said “many issues raised throughout the review will continue to analysed over the coming years”.
An evaluation of the Report by the chairman of the largest industry body, irish Funds, (summarised in the Q&A article opposite with Nicholas Blake Knox) says that the report sets out a path for positive progress in key areas of strength of the irish industry, notably global ETFs and Money Market Funds, and in the area of UCITS, a global investor brand, innovations are sketched out that will strengthen the brand as a product of choice in the future.
The third recommendation related to the growth of private assets - an area where Blake Knox, and irish Funds’s CEO Patrick Lardner says there is significant opportunity for Ireland if it can further develop its offering. Historically, Blake Knox says, ‘while Ireland has developed a world leading offering in the area of ETFs and MMFs, it has lagged other domiciles in the area of alternative investments. This has in part been connected with the rather late development of our investment limited partnership regime as well as certain regulatory barriers which made the establishment of private asset funds less attractive in Ireland’.
The Government Report pays particular attention to this, and the articles in this Special Report address the detail, and opportunities in these areas.