Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

A plan was launched last year by the Taoiseach, as the Deputy may know, in respect of the potential for growth in the financial services sector. It is expected that the financial services sector has the capacity to create 10,000 additional jobs in the foreseeable future. Therefore, there is planning.

Obviously, there are other parts of banking that we know about in light of the recent announcement by some of the banks where there will be a decline and there is a need to support a transfer to the new opportunities. Some of that will involve reskilling. Part of the jobs initiative, of which the Deputy is so critical, included Springboard, a specific initiative aimed at people who have lost their jobs in one sector to reskill and transfer to others. There is a good deal of rebuilding to be done to transform this economy successfully into a strong export-led recovery, but that work is being done and we will see the fruits of that.

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