Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning. Many thanks to Clive Bellows, Teresa Parker and all the team for inviting me and my Ministerial colleagues here to mark this very significant vote of confidence both for Ireland and for Limerick.
The 300 new jobs being announced today are a recognition of all that Limerick has to offer for leading multinational companies, the talent, the track record, the business friendly environment and above all a flexible and committed workforce with a can-do attitude.
It means that Northern Trust’s Limerick office is now expected to reach more than 1000 employees by the end of 2017 which is an absolutely fantastic figure in national terms but is of course particularly good news for Limerick.
And I’m pleased to be able to say that Northern Trust’s expansion is part of a broader trend across the economy.
While our recovery remains fragile, Ireland’s economy was the fastest growing in Europe last year and is expected to be again in 2015.
90,000 new jobs have been created since we launched the Action Plan for Jobs in 2012. As a result we have almost reached our original target of creating 100,000 additional jobs by 2016.
In 2014, IDA Ireland secured 197 new investments, a mix of new investments in Ireland and companies like Northern Trust further expanding their presence here.
These investments contributed to the 174,500 people working in IDA supported companies, 7,000 more than the previous year.
Job creation remains a top priority for this Government, and we want to ensure the international financial services sector will play an important role in helping us meet our ambitious job creation targets.
IFS Strategy
Today, over 35,000 people are directly employed in the international financial services sector, in centres all over the country. The sector has a national profile with 30% of IDA employment and 40% of EI employment outside of Dublin.
But we cannot be complacent - we must make sure we continue to innovate and develop to respond to new challenges and opportunities emerging for the sector.
That is why the Government agreed a new Strategy for the International Financial Services sector at Government this week which was prepared under the leadership of Minister of State Simon Harris.
This new Strategy which will be launched next week will ensure that Ireland remains at the forefront of international financial services in the future.
It sets an ambitious vision and job target for the sector over the next 5 years as well as a list of concrete action to achieve this.
It focuses on enhancing Ireland's financial services profile overseas as well as promoting competitiveness and driving research and innovation.
It will be Government led but achievement of its goals will require a strong partnership with industry. As I have said many times before the door of my Government is always open to your feedback on how we can support the growth and development of your business.
In preparing this Strategy we listened and in its implementation we will continue to listen.
I would like to congratulate the management and staff of Northern Trust here in Limerick.
I’m confident that you will continue to enjoy great success and I wish you all the very best of success for the future.