IFSC to outdo banks for lending

LENDING by banks in the Irish Financial Services Centre, in the Custom House Docks, Dublin, will soon exceed the Irish domestic banking sector total, the chairwoman of the Custom House Docks Development Authority said yesterday.

Lending by IFSC banks currently stands at £25 billion, Prof Dervilla Donnelly told the US Chamber Business Luncheon in Dublin.

With over £21 billion domiciled at the IFSC, Dublin had "already" outstripped the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands in terms of funds under administration, she said.

The 400 registered companies in the treasury, asset management, banking, insurance and back office activities in the IFSC, now employ more than 3,200 people among them.

A new promotional effort made earlier this year is designed to push the numbers employed at the centre to 7,500 by the turn of the century. "While the centre's special tax rate is due to expire in 2005, there is widespread expectation that this will not mean the end of the IFSC's appeal."

The authority's boundaries now enclose 74 acres, of which 41 acres is available for development. Over £250 million of private investment has been made, with business generating £200 million annually in tax revenue.

Prof Donnelly said the authority "has always operated a comprehensive liaison programme and will continue to involve local people in all its future endeavours".

"It is for us to understand and appreciate that sustainable development is not an option but an obligation, and that equity income distribution in individual societies, be they industrialised or developing, is a strategic objective which we can no longer forgo."

Finding a suitable use for the large Victorian warehouse, known as Stack A, has "become something of a holy grail for the authority", Prof Donnelly said.

"After two disappointments, when proposed museum projects were cancelled, this particular property is now the subject of some very exciting proposals."

A master plan for the development of the Dublin Docklands Area is to be submitted to the Government before the end of March 1997.

The plan "will serve as the basis for developing the area in an architecturally and environmentally sympathetic manner, encouraging public and private developers to fully exploit its commercial, tourist, leisure and community potential to the benefit of the city in general, and local communities in particular".

The task of putting the plan in place is the responsibility of the Custom House Docks Development Authority. Early next year, the authority will be incorporated into the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

That authority would face a stiff test, Prof Donnelly said.

"But it is one which should be welcomed eagerly as the largest single contribution to Dublin's development since Dublin's most prolific and honoured architect, James Gandon, designed and built the Custom House."