Proposals for a savings and investment strategy are due to be brought to Government by Easter, according to Tánaiste Simon Harris.

The Fine Gael leader has floated the idea of mechanisms designed to encourage some €170 billion in household deposits into financial markets.

Harris told a meeting of his party’s TDs and Senators of proposals to introduce a savings and investment account, saying he hoped to outline a framework in the near future, with officials in the Department of Finance working to establish a savings and investment forum to consult on the plan.

Harris, who is Minister for Finance, told the meeting that he wanted to deliver the project over two budgets, with officials now tasked to examine how other countries such as Sweden and Canada have brought in such a model.

The aim, he said, was to allow people from all backgrounds to invest their savings, telling his party that people who had saved for their family’s futures should not be penalised for doing so.

At the parliamentary party meeting last week he said that Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf had written to him after his appointment as Minister for Finance encouraging the Government to take steps to enable greater participation by households in financial markets.

Government sources have previously downplayed any suggestion the initiative under consideration was similar to a special savings incentive account (SSIA) scheme similar to that put in place 25 years ago by former Fianna Fáil minister for finance Charlie McCreevy. Under that scheme, participants received a 25 per cent government top-up on their investment.

Harris told RTÉ’s This Week programme on Sunday that the area was complex and would have to look at tax issues and the amount that participants could put into an account, potentially tax-free.

[ Harris sketches out incentivised savings scheme to help ‘middle classes’Opens in new window ]

He indicated that it could also look at “the idea that you might actually be able to have a lower rate tax or how to deal with issues like deemed disposal as it’s called. There’s a whole variety of issues here.”

Deemed disposal is a 38 per cent “exit tax” that applies to investments in Irish-domiciled investment funds and life assurance products, as well as equivalent offshore funds and certain foreign life assurance products.

Harris said: “The only people who can actually make a bit of money on their investments are the uber wealthy. Now, I want the middle classes to have an opportunity here … This is about making their money work for them.”