Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The clearing house group is a technical group of people from various Departments as well as the Revenue Commissioners and the Stock Exchange, which identifies whether there are operational issues arising that need to be addressed. It has met for that purpose on a number of occasions this year. It also provides an informal opportunity to determine whether other opportunities might be identified for the financial services sector in Ireland, including those arising in the green financial services sector, for example. The intention also is to see in what way we can assist in maintaining the levels of business, particularly regarding management of assets that have been grown over many years within the IFSC. This is a very competitive area and it is a question of keeping in touch with the industry in terms of identifying what trends and practices are taking place, to see whether we can stay with the competition while at the same time protecting reputational issues for the country.

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