Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am sure the Deputy has noted the announcement that 2,500 redundancies are to be made by Allied Irish Banks over the next 12 to 18 months. The bank is in consultation with the IBOA in respect of the package for the personnel who will be leaving the bank. Deputy Adams is aware that, because of the downsizing and deleveraging of AIB and other banks, banks' requirements are much smaller. Inevitably, this will result in people leaving the banking sector. I hope that some of those who will leave the sector but who have IT training and skills will have an opportunity to take up some of the 10,000 jobs announced as part of the programme under the IFSC. In so far as the Government can assist those who can up-skill and retrain in a different direction, it will do so.

From 1999 to 2011, the number of jobs in the IFSC increased from 8,500 to 33,000. Notwithstanding the difficult international conditions, the IFSC's number of employees has continued to grow. Opportunities are highlighted in the strategy across different sectors, including shared services provision, green financial services, the location of EU hubs, payments and transaction processing, private equity and IP centralisation.

I regularly meet people from the IFSC, including some very major players who come here occasionally to meet their staff. There is a competitive and challenging environment internationally and the business is a very mobile business. It is important for the clearing house group and Ireland to stay at the forefront of new products and opportunities that evolve. I made this point on many occasions to chief executives, who have said they are very pleased with the quality of the talent coming through in Ireland, particularly younger people who display extraordinary passion for the work they do.

While the environment is very challenging for the time ahead, the IFSC report clearly indicates the capacity and potential to create 10,000 net new jobs over the period ahead. I hope the people who have decided to leave AIB and other companies can take up some of those new jobs.

With regard to the future of the green carbon finance area, as raised by Deputy Martin, the Green IFSC is currently researching and measuring the number of jobs and the companies that currently operate in the sector here. It is considering where the trend is likely to lead. There is an existing cluster of green carbon financial services activity across funds - front, middle and back office, as they say - insurance, carbon management and project finance within Ireland. Recent research highlights that environmentally related investments under management in Ireland are growing very rapidly. According to figures from December 2011 from Thomson Reuters, green investment funds managed out of Ireland have more than doubled in the past two years to €2.3 billion from just over €1 billion in 2009. The company identifies 24 firms that manage 36 funds from Ireland.

Financial Services Ireland has commissioned a study on the market and skills needs associated with green finance growth, and this is currently under way. This study gives a conservative projection over the period 2012 to 2017 of an additional green finance requirement of a minimum of 1,400 jobs. There is much activity on identifying sectors where jobs can be created. It is in Ireland's interest that it maintain a very high level of activity in this regard so as to be at the forefront in attracting those who decide to invest in the first place. That is why the IFSC continues to be a vibrant, energetic and attractive location for continued investment and we want to keep it that way.

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