IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Nicholas Blake-Knox, Jonathan Sheehan, Damien Barnaville and Joe Mitchell, Walkers
4. Legal, Regulatory or Tax Changes 4.1 Recent Developments and Proposals for Reform European Initiatives A number of European initiatives will have an impact on Irish domiciled funds, particularly Directive (EU) 2024/927 (AIFMD II) and changes under consideration to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 and the UCITS eligible assets regime, in addition to ini - tiatives seeking to promote supervisory conver - gence at a European level, including in the areas of sustainable finance, the supervision of costs and fees and asset valuations. These initiatives are not considered in detail in this chapter as In October 2024, the Department of Finance (DoF) published its final report on the Fund Sec - tor Review 2030, marking the culmination of its wide-ranging review of the investment funds sector in Ireland, under the themes of “Open Markets, Resilient Markets and Developing Mar - kets”. The key objectives of the review include developing a framework within which Ireland can maintain its leading position in fund manage - ment and fund servicing, and ensuring that the sector continues to support economic activity at both regional and national levels in Ireland. The DoF was tasked with reviewing Ireland’s funds sector framework to ensure it is up-to-date and to take account of developments necessary to support the long-term growth of the sector. The report is wide-ranging in nature and sets out 42 recommendations, outlining signifi - cant opportunities to enhance the investment landscape in Ireland’s funds sector, including the continued growth of areas such as private they are at a European level. Fund Sector Review 2030
assets, ETFs and structured finance, as well as measures enabling greater retail investment in the sector. Central Bank Publications The Central Bank has recently published the fol - lowing: • a new ELTIF chapter of the AIF Rulebook and updated authorisation processes to facilitate the establishment of closed-ended ELTIFs and open-ended with limited liquidity ELTIFs; • the introduction of a macroprudential policy framework for Irish-authorised GBP-denomi - nated liability-driven investment (LDI) funds; • UCITS Q&A enabling ETF naming at a share class level; • an industry letter following its thematic review of Irish authorised ETFs; • updated notification and de-notification letters for cross-border activities under the AIFMD and the UCITS Directive; • an industry letter following ESMA’s Common Supervisory Action with its findings on asset valuation; • a streamlined filing process to facilitate the implementation of the ESMA Guidelines on funds’ names using ESG or sustainability- related terms; and • a “Dear CEO” letter on marketing communi - cations to retail clients. Pillar Two Legislation Ireland introduced new OECD Pillar Two rules, including a 15% global minimum corporate tax rate for large multinationals for accounting periods commencing on or after 31 Decem - ber 2023 in Finance (No.2) Act 2023. The rules apply to members of groups that have annual consolidated revenues of at least EUR750 mil - lion; standalone non-consolidated entities with
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