1.— In this Act—

“ESM” means the international financial institution established as the European Stability Mechanism by Article 1 of the Treaty;

“Minister” means Minister for Finance;

F1["Treaty" means the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism done at Brussels on 2 February 2012 between the Euro Area Member States of the European Union as adapted in consequence of the accession of the Republic of Latvia to it on 13 March 2014 and as further adapted in consequence of the accession of the Republic of Lithuania to it on 3 February 2015, as amended by the Agreement amending the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism done at Brussels on 27 January 2021 and on 8 February 2021 between the Euro Area Member States of the European Union.]

2.— The Minister may on behalf of the State, from time to time, make payments in respect of the contribution of the State to the authorised capital stock of the ESM in accordance with the Treaty.

3.— There may be paid out of the Central Fund or the growing produce of that Fund sums, aggregating to a sum not exceeding F2[€11,119,500,000] to enable the State to make payments in respect of its contribution to the authorised capital stock of the ESM in accordance with the Treaty.

4.— Any moneys received by or on behalf of the State by way of dividend from the ESM under Article 23 of the Treaty or otherwise received under the Treaty shall be placed to the credit of the account of the Exchequer and shall form part of the Central Fund and be available in any manner in which that Fund is available.

5.— (1) The ESM shall have within the State the legal status, privileges and immunities referred to in Article 32 of the Treaty and, in respect of persons to whom paragraph 1 of Article 35 of that Treaty relates, such persons shall, subject to any waiver of immunity under paragraph 2 or 3 of that Article—

(a) be immune from legal proceedings with respect to acts performed by them in their official capacity, and

(b) enjoy inviolability in respect of their official papers and documents.

(2) In proceedings in any court, a certificate purporting to be under the seal of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and stating any fact relevant to determine whether the ESM, or any person to whom paragraph 1 of Article 35 of the Treaty relates, is entitled to inviolability or to a privilege or immunity under subsection (1) shall be prima facie evidence of that fact.

6.— The ESM shall not be taken to be providing a service or carrying on an activity which would require it to be authorised or regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

7.— ESM, its assets, gains, income, property, staff and its operations and transactions authorised by the Treaty shall be exempt from taxation to the extent and in the manner provided for by Article 36 of the Treaty.

8.— (1) In respect of each reporting period the Minister shall, as soon as practicable after the end of the period, cause a report to be laid before Dáil Éireann that includes the following information:

(a) the aggregate value of contributions made by the State to the authorised capital stock of the ESM under section 2 during the reporting period,

(b) the aggregate amount of moneys (including dividends) received by the State, to which section 4 relates, during the reporting period,

(c) the aggregate value of contributions made by the State to the authorised capital stock of the ESM under section 2 up to the end of the reporting period, and

(d) the aggregate amount of all moneys (including dividends) received by the State, to which section 4 relates, up to the end of the reporting period.

(2) In subsection (1) “reporting period” means—

(a) each of the following periods—

(i) the period from the passing of this Act to 31 December 2012,

(ii) the period in any year after 2012 from 1 January to 30 June,

(iii) the period in any year after 2012 from 1 July to 31 December,

or

(b) within each period to which paragraph (a) relates, such shorter periods as the Minister may from time to time consider appropriate in the circumstances.

9.— The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

10.— This Act may be cited as the European Stability Mechanism Act 2012.