48. Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he plans to bring forward an amendment to sectio45 n 50 of the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles Act 2015; to facilitate the use of distributed ledger technology, cloud computing and other similar technologies to support the digital transformation of the funds sector. [35517/26]

Tokenisation, the process whereby an underlying asset or pool of assets, tangible or intangible, is converted into digital “tokens” that act as its proxy – could fundamentally reform how capital markets operate, enabling real-time trades; increasing transparency and liquidity; expediting clearing and ultimately providing for atomic settlement.

The Funds Sector 2030 Report included a recommendation that industry should continue to engage with the Central Bank of Ireland and the Department of Finance, as necessary “with a view to mapping out a pathway for adoption of tokenisation”.

The Department fully support and encourage the work that industry has undertaken to assess what can be done within the current legislative and regulatory frameworks.

Officials from my Department are considering submissions from industry regarding proposed changes to the current legislative framework.

As part of the Saving and Investment Union (SIU) strategy, the European Commission has published the Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP). This package will amend 18 pieces of existing EU financial services legislation across trading, clearing, settlement and assets management.

Amending the DLT framework among other related measures forms part of the MISP proposal which seeks to turn the use of DLT in capital markets from a limited “sandbox” into something that can be scaled across the single market, The DLT Pilot Regime is being amended so that tokenised securities can be issued, traded, and settled at meaningful scale. Other changes amend existing EU financial services legislation, making them technologically neutral, allowing for the use of DLT and other technologies. This proposal is currently under negotiation at EU level.

In March this year, the Central Bank published a Discussion Paper on tokenisation. Submissions on the discussion paper are invited by the Central Bank by 5 June 2026. The Central Bank intends to publish a feedback statement following the consultation period. My officials will continue to engage closely with the Central Bank on the matter.