Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 April 2012
50 Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the specific action and plans that have been implemented and developed to create new posts in the financial services sector to replace those that have recently been lost. [20891/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government are fully conscious of the importance of the Financial Services sector and the opportunities represented by that sector for job creation, especially to replace jobs lost. The Action Plan for Jobs, initiated by my Department last February, assessed the sector, among others and specified a suite of actions to be undertaken this year. Work is underway on addressing these and, as set out in the progress report for Q1 2012, published last week, good progress has been made already on the relevant actions, in that a new Global Institution Group has been established by the IDA and this group has identified and is engaging with large global financial services groups and preparing an operational plan. As set out in the Plan, a range of other actions to develop this sector will be pursued over the remainder of this year.
IDA Ireland is fully committed to the further development of this sector. The current IDA strategy is reflected in that Agency's overall strategy “Horizon 2020” published in 2010. At present, the active IDA Ireland International Financial Services portfolio comprises approximately 150 global companies which have more than 220 operations on the ground in Ireland and employ more than 20,000 people. These companies, comprising all of the leading firms, and the total industry in Ireland has more than 1,000 entities and employs more than 25,000. Examples of key IDA clients include: Citigroup, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, State Street, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley. A number of international financial services companies are now among the largest multinational employers in the country — irrespective of sector — with both Citi and State Street employing more than approximately 2,000 staff each.
A number of new initiatives are underway as part of IDA's on-going development of the sector to encourage further inward investment and to support the continued development of their existing clients. These include research and promotional initiatives, involving active promotion of the sector in both new markets, e.g. the Gulf region and also traditional centres, such as London, Frankfurt and New York.
This work has borne solid results. Significant announcements for the sector in 2011 and 2012 to date include Asset Control (50 jobs), Fidelity (100 Jobs), BNY Mellon (50 jobs), Butterfield Fulcrum (60 jobs), HedgeServ (300 jobs), Allianz World Wide Care (128 Jobs), Mastercard (130 jobs) and Blackrock (25 jobs). In addition to pursuing new projects, IDA's financial services team are actively engaged with existing client companies and potential new entrants both at home and overseas, to encourage expansion of existing business lines, win new mandates and attract fresh investment.
A very welcome development over the last 20 years has been that the geographical footprint of the industry in Ireland has expanded beyond the IFSC to include some significant regional operations in Donegal, Sligo, Dundalk, Galway, Limerick, Cork and Kilkenny. The industry in Ireland now comprises a diverse range of activities including back, middle and front office operations and both regulated and non-regulated entities.
Collectively, these investments are significant achievements in view of the global crisis that has impacted the industry over the last two years and highlight Ireland's on-going attractiveness for investment and the Government's sustained commitment to the development of the sector.
