Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 April 2017
67. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Finance the way his Department and officials are promoting Ireland as an alternative location for various sectors, particularly the financial sector, following Brexit. [12052/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn addition to the challenges posed to Ireland by the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, the Government recognises that there will also be opportunities for Ireland arising from Brexit. The Government is keen to maximise those opportunities where possible. In that regard, international financial services (IFS) has been identified as an area of potential opportunity arising from Brexit in relation to the movement of business from existing UK locations in addition to other businesses seeking a new EU location post-Brexit.
In March 2015, the Government launched the lFS2020 Strategy, a whole-of-Government approach to further driving the growth and development of the IFS sector in Ireland. The Strategy, led by a dedicated Minister of State for Financial Services Eoghan Murphy, is supported by all relevant public and private sector stakeholders who work closely and successfully on a joint basis.
The IFS2020 Strategy combines long-term strategic thinking with the flexibility to react to domestic and international developments, including Brexit. The Strategy, through annual Action Plans, provides a clear framework to maximise any opportunities that might arise from Brexit by ensuring that Ireland's offering for businesses considering a move of their activities out of the UK can compete with other potential locations. The annual Action Plans enable a tailored response to deal with these challenges and opportunities as they arise.
A key strategic priority of IFS2020 is the promotion of Ireland as a location for IFS and world class innovative products and services. The 2017 Action Plan continues to emphasise the strong commitment to this strategic priority. This Plan, which was developed in close consultation with all IFS stakeholders, was launched by Minister of State Murphy at the European Financial Forum in Dublin Castle last January. The 2017 Action Plan places a strong focus on Brexit: it underpins the Action Plan and also features within the suite of 40 individual measures to be actioned in 2017 by the different public and private sector stakeholders involved in IFS2020.
One of the key measures contained within the Action Plan for 2017 relates to the public sector financial services sub-group led by my Department. This sub-group has a strategic and prioritised approach to the implications of the UK EU referendum on the financial services sector, including IFS. In that regard, it works closely with the Cabinet Committee on Brexit.
The IFS Ireland banner brand was a key IFS2020 deliverable which was launched in 2016. The banner brand is the shared identity which all IFS stakeholders Government and industry bodies use to promote Ireland on the international stage using a clearly identifiable logo and single approach across the public and private sectors. An accompanying website, www.ifsireland.com, has also been established. Over recent months, Minister of State Murphy has launched the banner brand in the North American and Asian markets.
An IFS2020 Communications sub-group has also been established to further progress and develop IFS messaging to ensure the promotion of Ireland's IFS sector is maximised. This Communications sub-group continues to work both with private and public stakeholders to ensure that there is consistent messaging on Ireland's IFS offering.
The Action Plan for 2017 also commits the public sector and industry to actively engage on overseas promotion and marketing of the IFS sector to ensure a co-ordinated and strategic approach to the promotion and marketing of Ireland as a centre of excellence for IFS. This includes a co-ordinated programme of overseas trade missions, a shared public sector/industry IFS calendar, the promotion of IFS as part of ministerial visits to key financial services markets, including the St. Patrick's Day visits programme, and the deployment of the IFS Ireland banner brand by IFS industry associations.
Since the UK EU referendum in June 2016, Minister of State Murphy has undertaken significant visits to Asia (twice) and North America (twice), as well as numerous IFS engagements in London and Europe. The main purpose of such visits is to promote Ireland as a destination for financial services investment. Minister of State Murphy has used these visits to engage with key public sector and industry stakeholders to raise the profile of Ireland's IFS sector as part of the Government's ongoing programme of engagement in response to Brexit.
As part of the promotion of Ireland as a location for financial services, Minister of State for Financial Services Murphy hosted the second annual European Financial Forum (EFF) in Dublin Castle on 24 of January 2017 which attracted approximately 700 delegates from 30 countries representing around 400 organisations. As organisations consider their Brexit contingency plans, the Forum provided a unique opportunity to promote Ireland's IFS sector. Next year's EFF will be held at the end of January, 2018.
Budget 2017 allocated additional resources to the enterprise agencies, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, in the context of Brexit. The enterprise agencies continue to identify potential sources of new Brexit-related investment and are actively pursuing opportunities across a number of sectors, including financial services. IFS2020 is also integrated into the wider Government planning including the Action Plan for Jobs 2017 and the new Trade and Investment Strategy (Ireland Connected) which aim to drive market consolidation and diversification, and improve competitiveness.
Minister of State Murphy continues to work closely with all public and private sector stakeholders, including the enterprise agencies, to promote Ireland as the location of choice for specialist financial services and to achieve the IFS2020 job creation target of 10,000 net new jobs over its five year lifetime by its target date of 2020.
