I propose to take Questions Nos. 1244 to 1265, inclusive, together.
In March 2015, the Government launched the ‘International Financial Services 2020 Strategy’ (IFS2020), which is led by Minister of State Michael D’Arcy TD. One of the main deliverables is to create 10,000 net new jobs across the Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland portfolios in international financial services over five years from 2015 – 2020. To end-2017 approximately 7,000 net new jobs were created in the sector, placing us on target to create 10,000 net new jobs by 2020. The IFS sector now employs almost 42,000 people across Ireland with 30% of those employed in the sector located outside Dublin.
The initial Strategy document launched in 2015 set out five strategic priorities with 30 specific actions.
This strategy document is available on the Department of Finance’s website at the following link: http://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IFS2020.pdf.
The five strategic priorities were:
Strategic Priority 1: Promote Ireland as a location for International Financial Services and world class innovative products and services
Strategic Priority 2: Drive continuous improvement in the operating environment and competitiveness of Ireland's IFS sector
Strategic Priority 3: Drive Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the IFS sector, with a particular focus on financial technology and governance, risk and compliance.
Strategic Priority 4: Develop job-creation opportunities from emerging IFS sub-sectors and new markets
Strategic Priority 5: Data and Benchmarking of Progress
As mentioned earlier, the initial strategy document also laid out 30 specific actions, the status of each of these actions is detailed in the quarterly progress reports published throughout 2015.
The progress reports for Quarters 2, 3 and 4 of 2015 can be found at the following links:
https://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IFS2020-Progress-Report-Q2-2015_0.pdf.
https://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IFS2020-Progress-Report-Q3-2015_FINAL.pdf.
https://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IFS2020-Q4-Progress-Report-2015.pdf.
These progress reports contain much of the information requested in the questions.
On occasion, measures are delayed from one quarter to the next, but generally are completed within the annual period. In instances where actions were not completed within the annual period, they were revised or recast for inclusion in the following year’s Action Plan. To date, all measures for 2015, 2016 and 2017 have been implemented and measures for 2018 remain on track for completion by end-2018.
The IFS2020 Strategy is reviewed and updated annually through the development of annual action plans. Three further action plans (2016, 2017 and 2018) have been published since the initial strategy (and 2015 Action Plan) document, and in total 159 actions have been identified. These annual reviews and the creation of action plans on an annual basis means that the Strategy has an in-built dynamism, allowing it to react to changing conditions within the sector, including changes in the international, technological and regulatory environments. For example, the central theme of the 2017 Action Plan was the planned exit of the UK from the EU.
Action Plans since 2015 can be found at the following links:
https://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IFS2020-Action-Plan-2016_0.pdf.
https://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IFS2020-Action-Plan-2017.pdf.
https://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/180130-IFS2020-Action-Plan-2018.pdf.
Quarterly progress reports track the progress of measures within the IFS2020 Action Plans and are published on the Department of Finance’s website. The latest quarter 1 of 2018 progress report is available at the following link:
http://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IFS2020-Q1-2018-Progress-Report.pdf.
The Quarterly Progress Reports for Quarters 2, 3 and 4 of 2015 provide information on the status of the Actions in the original plan. However, it has not been possible to gather the updated information requested on the current status of each of these original Actions within the required timeframe.
I have asked my officials to liaise with the relevant lead Departments and Agencies in order to gather and collate this additional information and I will send it on to the Deputy in due course.