Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 281: To ask the Minister for Transport the initiatives being pursued with the Irish Maritime Development Office since December 2008; if there have been steps taken to expand ship finance and management capability in Dublin as outlined in the Building Ireland's Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal report; and the other opportunities in the maritime sector being explored. [43140/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Maritime Development Office continues to actively market and promote ship management and ship finance related services in Ireland. The office is hosting a Ship Finance Seminar on 1 December to provide an overview to Irish based companies on current obstacles and opportunities in the global shipping markets. The slowdown in global demand coupled with underlying problems in the international ship finance sector have created difficult market conditions for Irish and foreign shipping groups. Despite these difficult conditions, a number of companies involved in the international ship finance and management sector continue to be based in Ireland. This number was boosted recently by the announcement by TBS Marine Inc, a US listed shipping group, to establish and domicile its European operations in this country.