Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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177. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on his Department's or his involvement in the European Financial Forum. [7006/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The third annual European Financial Forum (EFF) was held in Dublin Castle on 31 January 2018. The event, which was hosted by my colleague Minister of State for Financial Services and Insurance Michael D’Arcy TD, is now in its third year and is a key deliverable as part of the Government’s International Financial Services 2020 Strategy.

Following a review of the 2017 forum IDA Ireland were tasked with planning and executing the European Financial Forum 2018. As the department responsible for the delivery of the IFS2020 Strategy officials from my department engaged regularly with IDA Ireland as to progress on the planning of the event and assisted with invitations to overseas speakers and delegates where required.

The EFF 2018 was a tremendous success with almost 600 delegates in attendance from 24 countries representing over 350 different organisations. Preliminary planning for the 2019 forum is currently underway, led once again by IDA Ireland. We hope that the 2019 EFF will build on the continued success of the EFF as a showcase for Ireland’s financial services environment and Ireland as a location for high quality investment.

The evening before the EFF my colleague Minister of State D’Arcy launched the IFS2020 Action Plan 2018. The Action Plan outlines 43 measures designed to improve Ireland’s financial services environment, all to be actioned in 2018.

In addition to Minister of State D’Arcy hosting the EFF, I had the opportunity to engage with the Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovksis in a joint closing keynote address and conversation.

The purpose of the Forum is to support IFS2020 and the Strategy’s aim to create 10,000 net new jobs in the international financial services sector, which translates to a 30% increase in those employed in the sector. At this year’s EFF it was confirmed that to date almost 7,000 net new jobs have been created in the sector since the Strategy began, representing 70% of the target, with two years remaining.