Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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118. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps his Department and other State agencies are taking to ensure that Ireland is a beneficiary of Brexit in the area of financial services; if he will set out the strategy designed to ensure this is achieved and provide details of meetings held in this regard; the resources that have been allocated to this objective; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40637/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Contingency planning for Brexit has been ongoing at all levels of Government well in advance of the UK EU referendum in June 2016. Financial services is an area that is frequently identified in any discussion of Brexit.  Ireland has a successful track record of competing for, and winning, global foreign direct investment. One of the key pillars of that success is the growth of the International Financial Services (IFS) sector, in particular over the past 30 years. Ireland is now recognised internationally as a leading global centre for internationally traded financial services.

In March 2015, the Government launched the lFS2020 Strategy, a whole-of-government approach to further driving the growth and development of the IFS sector in Ireland. The decision in May of this year by An Taoiseach to appoint a dedicated Minister of State with specific responsibility for financial services sends a clear and strong signal of the Government's long-established commitment to the further growth and ongoing development of the IFS industry.  Implementation of the IFS2020 Strategy and the annual Action Plans is driven by a public sector High Level Implementation Committee (HLIC). The HLIC, meeting on a quarterly basis, is chaired by Minister of State for Financial Services Eoghan Murphy TD. Minister of State Murphy also chairs quarterly meetings of the IFS2020 Joint Committee, comprising of members of the public sector HLIC and senior IFS industry representatives. Brexit is now a standing agenda item at these quarterly meetings. Furthermore, a cross-governmental financial services group (including the agencies) is also chaired by my Department and all this joined up work ultimately feeds into the Cabinet Committee on Brexit.

Ireland is in a strong position to build on its successful track record and to compete for future mobile investments in the IFS sector. In a post UK EU referendum environment, the Government will continue to implement the IFS2020 Strategy to drive growth in the IFS sector. The Government will continue to promote the attractiveness of Ireland as a location of choice for mobile international investment and for talented people. The IFS2020 Strategy combines long-term strategic thinking with the flexible tools to react to any domestic and international developments occurring over the period. There will be opportunities for Ireland arising from the UK's decision to leave the EU. The Government is keen to maximise those opportunities where possible. The IFS2020 Strategy, the long-term vision for international financial services, was developed and put in place long before the UK decision to leave the EU.  However, it provides a clear framework to maximise any opportunities that might arise from that decision particularly through the annual Action Plans. The annual Action Plans enable a tailored response to deal with these challenges and opportunities as they arise. The IFS2020 Action Plan for 2017 was considered by the Joint Committee in December and will be published in very early 2017, following final consultations with all key public and private sector stakeholders and noting by the Government.

The Governor of the Central Bank has previously indicated that where further resources are necessary due to an expanded universe of regulated and supervised firms, the Bank has the ability to effectively re-prioritise where it needs to meet the increased level of demand and also to increase staff numbers as necessary.

As part of the promotion of Ireland as a location for financial services, a key IFS2020 milestone is the hosting of the second annual European Financial Forum in Dublin Castle on 24th January 2017. Given the result of the UK referendum and the potential implications for the financial services industry, the Forum is an opportune time to bring more than 600 financial services executives and policy makers from around the world to Dublin.  The themes of EFF 2017 will focus on the challenges and opportunities for the European financial system as both a source and a provider of capital. The keynotes and panel sessions will have a focus on Europe relative to the North American and Asian financial systems. 

Over the last number of months, Minister of State Murphy has undertaken two significant visits to Asia and North America, as well as IFS engagements in London. The main purpose of these visits was to promote Ireland as a destination for financial services investment and to launch the IFS Ireland brand in the Asian and North American markets. Minister of State Murphy will continue to promote Ireland overseas as the perfect European location for financial services investment as the IFS2020 Strategy moves into 2017, including during upcoming visits to Beijing and Hong Kong in January 2017.

There is also a IFS2020 Communications sub-group consisting of relevant departments and agencies who develop and promote plans and messaging on Ireland as a location for financial services.  This Comms sub-group will work both with private and public stakeholders to ensure that there is consistent messaging.

Furthermore, Budget 2017 is the latest step to make Ireland "Brexit ready". The measures announced in Budget 2017 help protect Irish businesses from Brexit volatility, enable them to compete internationally, and make Ireland increasingly attractive for investment. Budget 2017 included a number of measures to respond to the challenges of Brexit, to mitigate future risks, and to maximise any opportunities that might arise. These include the reduced capital gains tax to help entrepreneurs, the Foreign Earnings Deduction (FED) extension and amendment, and the extension of the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP). More information on these measures is available in the Budget documentation.

Budget 2017 also provides for additional funding for the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Enterprise Agencies to help them address the challenges and opportunities arising from Brexit. This will help support the enterprise agencies achieve their growth targets across all sectors of the economy, including the IFS2020 target to create 10,000 net new IFS jobs.

Input from all public sector and industry stakeholders in relation to financial services will continue to form a key part of the Brexit contingency planning joined up process.