REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE GLOBAL BOARD OF ZURICH FINANCIAL SERVICES
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE GLOBAL BOARD OF ZURICH FINANCIAL SERVICES ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
Dia dhíbh a chairde, it’s a great pleasure to offer the traditional welcome of the house, céad míle fáilte, to you all this evening. I’m delighted that Zurich Financial Services has chosen to host a Board meeting in Ireland and I would like to welcome in particular the Chairman of Zurich Financial Services, Manfred Gentz, its CEO Martin Senn, as well as the CEO of Zurich Western Europe, Markus Hongler, who oversees operations here in Ireland. I’d also like to welcome Barry O’Leary from IDA Ireland who has been a key partner for Zurich in Ireland.
Zurich Financial Services choice of Ireland as its European headquarters for non-Swiss business reflects your confidence in us and that is a matter of pride for us. You know us well from your already successful presence in the general insurance market in Ireland so when it came to finding the right location for your European hub you already knew well the key strengths and factors that made Ireland so attractive to international businesses such as yours - our EU and eurozone membership with full access to the internal market; our young, highly-educated, flexible workforce, a favourable business tax regime, a strong pro-enterprise focus and a globalised economy.
The global financial crisis impacted heavily on our open economy and the consequences were worsened by the local self inflicted wounds caused by a property bubble and weak credit regulation. Our citizens have borne the brunt of the down-turn in terms of jobs lost and in terms of the austerity measures taken to stabilise the national finances but here their righteous indignation is being channelled in a positive and realistic way with the characteristic social solidarity which allows us to tackle our problems head-on and in a coherent way.
We moved quickly to stabilise our public finances, mend our banking system and improve our competitiveness and recent evidence suggests that our actions are now bearing fruit – consumer confidence is returning, competitiveness has improved, exports are increasing and the recession word has given way to the beginnings of momentum towards a return to growth. It is critical that we convert renewed economic growth into new jobs as quickly as possible and into safeguarding existing jobs.
Zurich is a major employer in the IFSC, providing 1,100 high quality jobs here and so is a strong ambassador for the international financial services sector in Ireland . That sector is doing very well, despite the global problems and indeed the overall performance in the IFSC is robust. I congratulate Zurich on its strong performance and thank you for your vote of confidence in Ireland and in Irish workers.
I wish you well for the important work you are doing over these few days in Ireland and I hope that you will also find some time to enjoy all that Dublin has to offer. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.