This week's tragedy in New York has shown that 2001 has not yet relinquished its capacity to shock. Yet even still, it seems certain that the defining images of the year will be those that were witnessed on September 11th in the carnage of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
The Irish stock market, like every other, felt the considerable fall-out from those awful events; although the weeks since have shown a healthy recovery in the value of ISEQ - a tribute to the robustness of the market.
The year to September had actually gone very well for the Irish market. Some research recently completed by the exchange shows just how well the ISEQ was performing vis-α-vis its European counterparts in three key areas:
The ISEQ rose in value by 12 per cent in the first six months of the year - much better than the zero or even negative growth recorded by most other European exchanges.
Whereas most exchanges saw no growth in volume of business conducted during the first half of this year, the Irish exchange saw volume growth of 55 per cent (first six months of this year compared to last six months of 2000). In fact, the volume of business transacted up to the end of August this year outstripped the total volume of business transacted during the whole of 2000.
Importantly, the 12 months up to the end of August last saw probably the most successful period ever in respect of fund-raising for Irish-quoted companies; £6.5 billion (€8.25 billion) was raised over a wide spread of companies.
These figures prove that not only was the Irish exchange holding its own during the year up to September, it was actually performing substantially ahead of its European peers.
It was also demonstrating a remarkable efficiency and competitiveness. An international study undertaken during the summer found that the cost (mainly commissions) of doing transactions on the Irish exchange was just 19.8 basis points - 9 per cent cheaper than the average for such costs in exchanges in western Europe.
Unfortunately, while the Irish market was competing strongly in terms of cost-efficiency, the benefits of this were being negated by the continued imposition of the Government stamp duty levy of 1 per cent for transactions in Irish-registered companies. This level of stamp duty is the highest rate in the developed world.
We in the exchange - and others - have frequently appealed to governments (of different parties) to repeal the duty or at least to reduce it significantly. We've argued against the injustice and illogicality of imposing a tax on investors who choose to invest in Irish companies as opposed to German or American ones, and the added obstacles that this tax places on companies seeking investors.
Surely as markets tighten and confidence is stretched - and in advance of the forthcoming Budget - now is the time to re-examine this issue. The key responsibility of the exchange is to provide funding for and investment opportunities in Irish firms. It's a worthy goal and one worthy of Government support.
Over the past decade, the Republic has built world-class businesses, with all the benefits that accrue from that to the broader economy.
Internationally there are signs that more companies are seeing the long-term attractions of a listing on their domestic markets. Experience is teaching them that investors everywhere are most comfortable putting money into companies they can see, feel and experience at first hand rather than companies who have their businesses in one corner of the world and their listing in another.
But surely they would be more inclined to do so - and investors more inclined to transact in their shares - if the Government demonstrated its support for the Irish capital market by tackling the stamp duty anomaly.
Tom Healy is chief executive of the Irish Stock Exchange
