merrion street

Taoiseach Enda Kenny today visited the New York Stock Exchange where he rang the opening bell.

The Taoiseach is in New York as part of his United States visit to mark St Patrick's Day. Earlier today the Taoiseach met with Duncan Niederauer, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, before giving his address and ringing the opening bell. In his address, the Taoiseach said:

It’s a great honour for me to ring the opening bell on Ireland Day at the New York Stock Exchange.

This is an annual occasion when the eyes of the world are on Ireland and I’m pleased to be associated with the launch of Ireland Inc on Ireland Day 2012.

It is a real source of pride to me and to all Irish people that so many of our countrymen and women have helped to build this city and its institutions.

Here on Wall Street the Irish footprint is clear whether you look at the trading floor, the brokerages, banks, even the business media, our Irish family stretches the globe… a 70million strong diaspora who have been strong advocates for the Irish economy and the Irish people.

The Taoiseach spoke of Ireland' s economic recovery, and some key strengths of the Irish economy:

Ireland is turning a corner. It’s been a year of steady progress for Ireland. Our economy is growing. Deposits are flowing back into our banks. Exports are thriving. American investors are looking at Ireland and liking what they see. We are a determined government, determined to succeed.

As we grow our economy, we will build on our key strengths. I want to mention just two of these today.

Firstly, within our international financial services sector, we are

developing Ireland as a centre of excellence in green finance. Today, we are launching a global green asset management network, capitalising on over $10 billion in green assets managed, domiciled or serviced in Ireland, making us an emerging leader in green finance.

Secondly, we are well on the way to establishing Ireland as one of the cloud computing capitals of the world. Seven of the world’s top ten Cloud Data Centre operators are already in Ireland, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

The Taoiseach continued:

My message to you this St Patrick’s week is that there has never been a better time to invest in Ireland and to be part of our recovery. Ireland is a new land of opportunity for international investors. Why?

Because Ireland is the gateway… your gateway… to a European market of 500 million people. We have a young, highly-educated, highly-motivated, English-speaking workforce, competitive corporation tax, good

infrastructure, a government determined to succeed. The World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ Report 2011 found Ireland to be the most supportive business environment in the Euro area.