Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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It is difficult to put a number on the quantity because we are in a changing environment. Some companies have decided to create more jobs in Ireland as a result of Brexit but they will not attribute them to Brexit immediately because they have relationships in other jurisdictions to which they are sensitive. Companies have chosen Ireland as a contingency but they have time to wait until they trigger it. They may not have to depending on what agreement is put in place. Other companies are waiting to make decisions and because they do not know what it will mean for them, they cannot put a number on this. Therefore, if they cannot, we cannot. IFS 2020 is about expanding the sector by 30% or between 35,000 and 45,000 by the end of 2019 and I anticipate that we will surpass that.

The Deputy asked about the quality of jobs. We have had inquiries from entities in every part of the financial services industry and in every part of the value chain in terms of jobs. We will see high-end jobs coming into this country if we can manage to get a couple of big wins in particular areas where we currently do a bit of the infrastructure - a bit of the plumbing - but we do not do the front office. If we can become a location for the front office, we will see a big gain with high-end jobs coming in, and not just to Dublin. Certain companies that have offices in Kilkenny and Cork are increasingly moving high-end jobs outside Dublin into the regions because of the cost competitive advantage and because the workforce is there. The Deputy knows all the reasons. He knows the strong offering Cork has in IFS. We will see high-quality jobs coming through.