Plenty of time develop infrastructure for Brexit opportunities – Minister

Minister of State for Financial Services Eoghan Murphy says there is plenty of time to prepare for the relocation of British-based banks to Dublin post-Brexit.

“There won’t be a Big Bang moment where they all get on planes and boats to move here. There is time to develop the infrastructure. We will have the capacity to handle them as more commercial space comes on line.”

Mr Murphy said that there is 3.5million square feet of office space currently being built, a further one million square feet being refurbished and upgraded and five million square feet with planning permission.

"We are looking ahead to ensure we are ready to avail of any opportunities post-Brexit," he told Newstalk Breakfast.

Mr Murphy's comments come as a top banking official says that big international banks are preparing to move some of their operations out of Britain in early 2017 due to the uncertainty over the country's future relationship with the European Union.

Many of the world’s major banks have their European headquarters in Britain, where the financial sector employs more than two million people and makes up almost 12 per cent of the economy.

The Irish Government and the IDA are working to attract some of this business to Ireland, though they face tough competition from Paris and other centres.

Last week Taoiseach Enda Kenny and senior officials met the board of Citibank who had a board meeting in Dublin. However major banks such as Citi – which already has a substantial presence here – have yet to outline where they plan to reorganise their operations post-Brexit.