Irish ProShare Association

Lobbying Organisation Irish ProShare Association

Date published 02 Jan, 2019

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Taxation

Period 1 Sep, 2018 to 31 Dec, 2018

Specific Details Save As You Earn (SAYE) Employee Share Schemes are under threat as a result of Brexit. SAYE are tax efficient savings accounts for employees. The monies are held by a qualifying institution. In this instance 2 of the 3 qualifying institutions are using their banking passporting licence to provide the service out of the UK into Ireland. When Brexit happens on the 29th March 2019, these accounts will be closed for over 12000 Irish employees.

Intended results A specific piece of legislation needs to be put in place to protect these 12000+ employees' savings continuing to allow them to particpate in their company's share scheme, by allowing the 2 UK banks to continue to offer the current SAYE service in Ireland after Brexit.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Gill Brennan

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Letter (1)

The Irish ProShare Association jointly signed a letter requesting the Minister for Finance to meet with us and representatives from our membership to discuss the issue and possible solutions to save the SAYE accounts of the over 12000 employees affected by Brexit. The letter was issued to the Minister for Finance, the Minister of State for Financial Services and the UK treasury on the 19th Sept 2018, requesting a meeting with all 3. A meeting was later scheduled with the Minister for State for Financial Services at 5pm on the 3rd December 2018 which was attended by Gill Brennan CEO Irish ProShare Association, Ashley Price of Yorkshire Building Society and Chris Mowatt of Barclays Bank plc - the latter 2 being the UK qualifying institutions holding the SAYE accounts on behalf of Irish employees working for UK businesses operating in Ireland offering SAYE as part of their benfits package.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Michael D’Arcy Minister of State (Department of Finance)

Paschal Donohoe Minister (Department of Finance)