Ireland’s has been accused of attempting to protect its domestic fund industry by omitting the European fund regulation from its agenda when it assumed its six-month presidency of the European Union’s council in January 2013.
Ireland, which boasts a 1trillion Ucits fund industry, did not include the Ucits V directive on its agenda.
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Ireland has avoided the regulation in order to side step measures that could increase costs for the Ucits fund market.
The regulation will include new rules on remuneration and depositories that are designed to enhance investor protection.
Sven Giegold, the influential German Green MEP charged with overseeing the Ucits V directive, said: There were ‘good reasons’ for looking at Ireland’s decision to omit the directive.
"One could fear that the reason is to protect the Ucits industry in Ireland from consumer protection regulation."
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By GlobalData"Ireland, which is home to more than 3,000 Ucits funds, did not include the directive on its agenda to safeguard its own industry. It was a strategic decision by the Irish presidency to prevent measures such as a controversial bonus cap from becoming a reality for its domestic fund industry," according to a Brussels-based lobbyist.
"The Irish could be accused of having abused their presidency to protect their own interests. The fact that the government didn’t prioritise the Ucits dossier during their presidency leaves a bad taste in the mouth," Giegold added.
A spokesperson for the MEP said: "Ireland omitted the directive from its agenda due to the size of its workload."
Ucits V proposes bonus caps and penalties for underperforming funds that levy performance fees, measures that could hike costs for the Ucits fund market.
