Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has raised an interesting point about the IFSC Clearing House Group which is chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach but which does not include Ministers in its attendance. Ministers, therefore, must read who was in attendance and what was discussed.

He has also raised an interesting point about those who are in mortgage distress, those who are unemployed and those who have societal problems. People in these sectors have direct access to the Government. They meet Ministers and members of the Government on a regular basis. I meet them all the time. We are unashamedly pursuing the creation of jobs and job opportunities. That is why the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has published his second action plan for jobs, with particular reference to the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in increasing indigenous confidence. The Government has proven that it is more open to job opportunities than most Governments over many years. It is working with small and large businesses in the interests of job creation and opportunity.

The Deputy asked what the IFSC Clearing House Group has been doing since 1987. Over many of those years, it has been working with the financial services industry, which has grown to substantial proportions. It now employs 33,000 people in well-paid jobs. The international finance industry provides an enormously important service for us here in Dublin and in Ireland. I have to testify, on the basis of my dealings with our counterparts in Britain, Europe and the United States, that the IFSC's reputation is exceptional. It is a small but critically important element of Ireland's reputation as an advantageous centre in which to conduct financial services business. That is why, for example, Zurich announced today that it intends to employ 112 specialist personnel in the area of cyber-defence analysis. It would not have made that decision if it did not feel Ireland was an appropriate country for those positions to be located, or if it thought the required quality of personnel was not available.

The IFSC Clearing House Group conducts regular meetings with the financial services industry, and rightly so, in the interests of increasing and expanding those opportunities. It reports to me and publishes its minutes publicly. The challenge for everybody is to provide jobs and thereby reduce the number of unemployed people on the live register. I am glad that an average of 1,000 jobs a month have been created in the private sector over the last 15 months. We hope to make an impact through the expansion of the IFSC and the opportunities that will come from the action plan for jobs. It is a challenge for everybody. Like all the members of the Government, as Taoiseach I am very open to receiving proposals, ideas and contributions from individuals and small or large businesses and organisations about how this might be put into practice. It is in everybody's interests for the vast majority of people - the maximum number possible - to be able to contribute to the economy and to the quality of their own lives.

See this speech in context