Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on his recent engagement at the European Financial Forum in Dublin. [4582/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The second annual European Financial Forum (EFF) was held in Dublin Castle on 24th January 2017 and was a key IFS2020 deliverable under the 2016 Action Plan. The event was hosted by my colleague Minister of State for Financial Services, Eoghan Murphy TD, who has responsibility for the IFS2020 strategy. The IDA and EI had lead responsibility for organising this event, in consultation with the Department of Finance and other public sector and industry stakeholders. I attended the closing sessions of the EFF and gave the final remarks to close off a day of very interesting discussions and presentations.

The concept of the EFF in Dublin was inspired by the success of the equivalent Asian Financial Forum and it is to showcase Ireland's international financial services environment to an international audience, and highlight the Irish Government's commitment to the continued development of International Financial Services.

The 2017 event was very successful and builds on the success of last year's inaugural EFF as a platform to engage leaders from both the public and private spheres through discussion and debate on the challenges and issues facing the global economy. 

The 2017 Forum featured keynote speakers and panel discussions on a number of themes. A major focus for the 2017 Forum was the macro economic outlook for the European, Asian and North American economies and impacts for financial services. Given the many international developments in 2016, the EFF2017 was particularly timely in shaping the discussion around the outlook for financial services in our ever changing world. Additional themes included risk-pricing and bank-financed growth, asset management in a near-zero interest rate environment, unpicking the Blockchain conundrum, and promoting diversity in financial services.  

The EFF had 24 domestic and international speakers which included President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Jin Liqun; Blackrock Vice Chairman, Philipp Hildebrand; and Credit Suisse Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors (& Chair of the British Bankers' Association), Noreen Doyle among others. The full list of speakers is available at the following website: .

Minister Murphy also launched the IFS2020 Action Plan 2017 at the EFF. The 2017 plan was drafted in the Department of Finance following extensive engagement with both public and private sector stakeholders through the IFS2020 implementation framework. The 2017 Action Plan is divided into two sections. Section one is a contextual piece outlining the development of the Strategy with a strong focus on Brexit while section two contains the suite of 40 individual measures to be actioned in 2017 under the IFS2020 strategic priorities, with the Department or agency responsible for each measure, and the timeline for delivery. A copy of the 2017 Action plan was provided to each attendee of the EFF and is available at:

http://www.finance.gov.ie/sites/default/files/17-01-16%20IFS2020%20Action%20Plan%20FINAL%20for%20web_0.pdf.