Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There will be volatility and wherever there is volatility, there are risks. One of the things that this Government has been stressing, as we approach the formal start of the Article 50 negotiations, is the importance of putting in place transitional arrangements to act as a safety net for the market. This will ensure that as we go through the negotiation process, dealing with the terms of the exit and the terms of any new arrangements, there will be clarity for financial services firms as to where we are going. The international financial services sector is the plumbing and architecture that is underneath most economies, in terms of finance for small and medium enterprises - not just those enterprises that export and trade but also those with a domestic focus. We must make sure that as we go through this process there is not too much volatility for them to face that might disrupt their businesses, if, for example, the negotiations do not go well in a particular week. We must also ensure that as we approach the end of the two-year negotiation period, the potential cliff-edge scenario is not used for brinkmanship.

I have been relaying that message very strongly to my counterparts in Europe. I met the Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, with responsibility for financial stability, financial services and capital markets union last week, Commissioner Dombrovskis. I had flagged that to the committee a number of weeks before going over. I raised the importance of that issue with the Commissioner. I also raised my concerns around regulatory arbitrage or competition happening in the European space at the moment as people vie to attract business from London. I stressed the importance of not lowering standards in any part of the Single Market because given the current interconnectedness, there would be a spillover if a company of significance were to move to a jurisdiction on a promise that could not be delivered. I discussed that with the Commissioner and with members of the ECON committee.

I presented a paper on risks and opportunities to the Brexit Cabinet sub-committee in November 2016. So far this year I have had a number of consultations here and in London with different sectors to make sure we are across all the risks and opportunities. There is a potential opportunity for job creation, that is true. I spoke about that yesterday in the wake of one announcement of a company in the insurance sector that is not coming here. There will be an ebb and flow to this. Jobs will relocate out of London; they will not all come to Ireland but we will get more than our fair share, in my view. That will act as some sort of mitigation against the down sides and risks that exist for other sectors in our economy. We are looking at this issue on a daily basis.