merrion street

Good Evening to you all and thank you Vincent for the warm welcome.

I am delighted to be here today to officially open Virtu Financials European Head Office.

The location of your office here on Sir John Rogersons Quay is very fitting. I know Virtu see themselves as a technology company as much as a trading company. Located here you are right in Dublin’s Digital Docklands and connected with the Irish Financial and Services Centre across the river.

Ireland has been very successful in attracting some of the biggest global names in the digital industry and with them tens of thousands of highly skilled technology employees.

Here in the Docklands we have a digital and financial business ecosystem that we are very proud of.

Your choice of Dublin for your European headquarters is a prime endorsement of Ireland as a location for innovative and ambitious global companies.

It is encouraging for people to see that the work in enhancing Ireland’s competitiveness for investment is working.

Today’s opening is also a strong vote of confidence in the skills and expertise of our workforce as Virtu is creating 30 new highly skilled positions in order to support their European growth plans.

It is also a sign of progress in our efforts to support job creation and get our people back to work.

Virtu’s 30 new jobs will add to the 3,000 the private sector are now creating every month.

Jobs growth is now at its strongest since 2008.

The upcoming Budget next month will be another opportunity to enhance our business environment and help get Ireland back to work.

Our 12.5% corporation tax remains a cornerstone of Irish industry policy and is not in question from any quarters.

As a business you already know that Ireland operates an open, transparent and statute based taxation system.

Also in line with our Programme for Government commitments we won’t be increasing income tax which would only add extra taxes onto jobs and investment and would represent a step back in our path of national recovery.

Determined structural reforms and fiscal consolidation allow us to continuing making progress in returning our economy to sustainable growth.

Today’s welcome growth figures for Q2 are encouraging but will not lessen the task of reducing our deficit back to sustainable levels.

As the economy continues to stabilise we are working towards exiting our Programme of Support later this year which will be a further boost to investor confidence.

However, there is no room for complacency.

We need to enhance Ireland’s offering as an attractive location for investment by meeting the goal of the Government to make Ireland the best small country in the world for business by 2016.

With this is mind, our annual Action Plans for Jobs is focussed on improving conditions for business and employers.

We need to ensure we have the skills and infrastructure to support new and exciting areas such as algorithmic trading and others sectors with high growth potential.

Planning for the 2014 Action Plan is already underway and the Government always welcome your views as to how we can make Ireland more attractive to investment.

I am sure that given Virtu Financial’s reputation, not just as a leading electronic trading firm, but as a leader at the forefront of innovative new technologies, that this company will prosper here in Ireland and continue on its impressive growth trajectory.

And so I am delighted to officially open Virtu Financial’s new European head office.

I would like to wish Vincent, David and all of the Virtu team - both current and future members – every success in the years ahead.