Thanks for the quick reply Gordon.
I was thinking that. Then I heard a throwaway comment on a Bloomberg interview recently saying to watch out for the tax treatment of gold as "collectibles". This comment was intended for a U.S. audience but a bit of googling revealed this (3 year old) article that mentions
"Profits from investments in ETFs that back their shares with physical holdings of precious metals face taxes as high as 28 percent for investments held at least a year. That’s the rate the U.S. Internal Revenue Service applies to items it considers “collectibles,” such as coins, art, silver and gold."
(Article source: I don't meet the min reqs to post a link here but if you google "gold-etf-sellers-facing-tax-surprises-at-28-gains-rate" then it should be the first link. It's a bloomberg article).
So I don't know what the implications are for an Irish resident trading GLD. What would the tax treaties with the U.S. mean in this situation?