The International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) is an area of central Dublin and part of the CBD established in the 1980s as an urban regeneration area and special economic zone (SEZ) on the derelict state-owned former port authority lands of the reclaimed North Wall and George's Dock areas of the Dublin Docklands. The term has become a metonym for the Irish financial services industry as well as being used as an address and still being classified as an SEZ.
It officially began in 1987 as an SEZ on an docklands site in central Dublin, with EU approval to apply a 10% corporate tax rate for "designated financial services activities". Before the expiry of this EU approval in 2005, the Irish Government legislated to effectively have a national flat rate by reducing the overall Irish corporate tax rate from 32% to 12.5% which was introduced in 2003.
An additional primary goal of the IFSC was to assist the urban renewal and development programme of the North Wall area as a result of its dereliction following the advent of containerisation in the 1960s. Following a period of successful regeneration the Section 23 Relief and other schemes ceased accepting new entrants from 1999.
The original 11-hectare IFSC site has gone through several expansions to become a area by 2018 which is now a major European financial centre. By merging with the Spencer Dock and Grand Canal Dock area, the IFSC is now considered to be an "International Services Centre", covering a broader range than being purely financial. The creation and development of the IFSC is considered to be an important part of Ireland's economic growth story.
Location
The original IFSC 1 (development of the site from 1987 to 1997 under the Custom House Docks Development Authority "CHDDA") comprises the area between Memorial Road, Amiens Street, Lower Sheriff Street (including part of Crinan Strand), Guild Street, and the River Liffey along North Wall Quay and Custom House Quay. Adjacent districts include East Wall to the north and Spencer Dock to the east; the Custom House, Busáras and the city centre lie to the west along Store Street and Abbey Street. Within the IFSC, the original development area lies west of Commons Street.
East of Commons Street is the later IFSC 2 expansion (development of an additional from 1997 to 2007 under the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) which runs along North Wall Quay and Lower Mayor Street. It is an integrated development located in the centre of the city which incorporates office accommodation, educational institutions, housing, restaurants and shopping facilities including the Dublin Landings development.
East of Guild Street down as far as the Point Depot is the final part of the IFSC (Docklands Strategic Development Zone, created by Dublin City Council ("DCC") on the dissolution of the DDDA in 2012), as an area containing the Central Bank of Ireland as well the offices of PwC, Credit Suisse and numerous technology companies including Yahoo and WeWork. This was further expanded by DCC in 2015 into a larger special economic zone ("SEZ") to include the full of North Lotts and Grand Canal Docks sites, taking in both financial and technology services companies. Only the area within the North Wall part of the original IFSC includes IFSC as part of a postal address.
History
The concept of a low tax international financial service centre is attributed to Irish businessman Dermot Desmond and politician Ruairi Quinn among others, whose ideas were later picked up by Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey and incorporated into his 1987 election manifesto (with contributions from AIB CEO Michael Buckley). Despite resistance from the Department of Finance (concerned about the impact on domestic tax revenues), Haughey overruled and got permission from the EU to create a special 10% tax incentive zone (the IFSC), in the 1987 Finance Act (Section 30).
The CHDDA had earlier been created under the auspices of the Garret FitzGerald lead Fine Gael-Labour minority government as a Special Purpose Agency (SPA) in November 1986. The physical manifestation of the IFSC began with the construction of three offices - The International Centre, IFSC House and La Touche House, all with distinctive green colouring. To operate in the IFSC and access the 10% tax rate, companies had to be approved by the Certification Advisory Committee (CAC), composed of representatives from the Irish Development Authority, the Department of Finance, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Central Bank of Ireland.