Simon Harris TD, Minister of State for International Financial Services, today (29th September 2015) officially opened the new Insurance Centre at the heart of Dublin’s IFSC. 

Home to representative and professional bodies of the industry – Insurance Ireland, The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland and The Insurance Institute, Minister Harris was joined by both staff and key industry figures at the official opening of Insurance Centre in Dublin’s IFSC. 

The three organisations relocated from Molesworth Street to the IFSC in August, in a strategic move to place all three at the centre of insurance activity within the city, in a place where so many global forces within the sector are represented. 

Speaking at the opening of the new premises, Minister Harris remarked,

“I very much welcome the Insurance Centre as both a shared physical space for key stakeholders in the Insurance sector and as a strategic move to support better communication and coordination across the sector. This is very much in keeping with the Government’s objectives both in the Action Plan for Jobs and the International Financial Services’ Strategy, IFS2020.  Regarding the former the recent announcement to include the insurance industry within the new, national professional apprenticeship scheme offers the sector an opportunity to play a key role in the achievement of this objective by 2018.”

On-hand to greet the Minister and introduce him to the rest of the team was Kevin Thompson, CEO of Insurance Ireland whose organisation represents 95% of the domestic insurance market and 80% of the international life insurance market.Mr Thompson said, “We are delighted the Minister joined us today to officially open Insurance Centre based in the IFSC which places us in an even stronger position to grow and better promote our sector to the domestic and international community. Since the launch of the IFS 2020 Strategy the Minister has been at the forefront of promoting Ireland as the country of choice for International financial services activity, of which Insurance is a main element. We believe our new location will act as a perfect reception post for the delegates joining us from 34 countries to attend the Insurance Europe 2016 Conference and General Assembly, which is hosted by Insurance Ireland and forms part of the IFS 2020 Strategy”. 

As well as Mr Thompson, the Minister also met with Eamon Shackleton, CEO of The Insurance Institute, who with 13,000 members are the number one provider of insurance education for the Irish market and John Casey, CEO of The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland. 

“Having Minister Harris here today allowed us to demonstrate the highly professional approach to the development of the apprenticeship scheme the industry is taking” commented Mr Shackleton whose organisation is project managing the initiative from the Insurance Centre. He continues “professional apprenticeships offer young people a credible alternative to third level education and this insurance apprenticeship will be fully supported by approved qualifications and valuable on-the-job experience.”

Mr Casey believes that for his organisation, whose principal role is to compensate victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles, partnership with the Government is key.  “The MIBI also has a number of statutory functions in relation to foreign registered vehicles circulating in Ireland and Irish registered vehicles abroad, and in concert with similar Bureaux in other Member States, ensures that accident victims across the EU are financially protected”.

The Insurance Centre is located at 5 Harbourmaster Place, IFSC, Dublin 1