Desmond assesses IFSC project as 'best I have been involved in'

Financier Mr Dermot Desmond has described the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) as "the best thing that I have been involved in" and paid tribute to the vision of former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey in giving substance to the idea.

In an interview with IFSC newsletter, Finance Dublin, Mr Desmond reveals how he and AIB chief executive Mr Michael Buckley were behind a section on financial centre policy that was incorporated into the Fianna Fáil election manifesto in 1987.

Their involvement came about after Mr Haughey was convinced by Mr Desmond of the merits of establishing a financial centre in the Republic at a meeting in New York in 1986.

Mr Desmond had earlier written a paper on the topic for the then Minister for Labour, Mr Ruairí Quinn. The paper arose, according to Mr Desmond, from a meeting in Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel in the mid-1980s when he joined Mr Quinn, tax adviser Mr Greg Sparks, businessman Mr Tom Hardiman, banker Mr Pat O'Mahony and Mr John Fanning of McConnells advertising agency to discuss ways in which revenue could be generated for the State.

"At the time, according to Quinn, the Government had run out of scope for raising additional taxation," Mr Desmond says in the interview.

Despite subsequently launching a study on Mr Desmond's idea, the coalition government was out of office before progress on the matter was made. Mr Haughey reportedly later said: "You know your concept of a financial centre - I would like to include that in our election manifesto."

Mr Desmond praises Mr Haughey for insisting that the IFSC project would proceed without pandering to the self-interest of the parties involved.

He says the Department of Finance was opposed to the plan because it could undermine the tax revenue the State received from the banks.

The banks, meanwhile, did not warm to the docklands as a location for a financial centre.

"What I hadn't understood was how bureaucracy would rise up and strangle the idea if let," Mr Desmond says, describing how Mr Haughey later instructed the various bodies that the project would not be halted.

"Looking back, it is the best thing that I've been involved in. We all collaborated on the concept with a shared passion for promoting the national interest," says Mr Desmond. He estimates that the centre has contributed up to €10 billion to the economy since its inception.

His one regret on the initiative is that it has "largely ignored" social integration with its surroundings. "Fifteen years later it is still not there," he says.

Looking forward, Mr Desmond warns that policymakers should not be complacent about the IFSC's continued success.

"People came to Dublin because of its pro-active, supportive culture. In its absence they will go elsewhere."