Long live the IFSC?

Ireland’s international financial services sector received a boost last week when a new five-year plan was launched to support its growth. But critics have raised questions about the sector’s lack of transparency and how beneficial it actually is to the domestic economy

The International Financial Services Centre: questions have been raised about the ‘shadow banking’ sector

Ireland for Finance, a five-year plan to grow and support the international financial services sector (IFS), was published last week by the Department of Finance. The plan involves an exceptional level of support and commitment by the government to a sector it considers to be the centrepiece of Ireland’s international success story.

Since its establishment in the late 1980s by Charles Haughey, the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) has put Ireland on the ...