Ireland’s Finance Strategy, ‘Vision 2030 – Renewed and Refocussed for a Digital Age’ (Strategy), was published by the Department of Finance (DoF) on 25 August 2026. The Strategy builds on previous strategies to drive further progress for Ireland’s international financial services (IFS) sector until the end of the decade.
Ireland’s vision to strengthen its global position is built on four core ambitions:
- Remain a competitive, stable and trusted location for IFS.
- Build scale and deepen expertise to enable economic growth in Ireland and the EU.
- Leverage technology to support digital transformation.
- Develop links between the IFS sector and Irish businesses and citizens.
These ambitions are supported by 31 key actions to improve competitiveness and position the sector for the next phase of digital transformation.
The key actions fall under 11 themes and are outlined below.
1. Legislation
- The DoF will support efficient and timely transpositions of financial services legislation.
- The DoF will collate a rolling multi-annual legislative plan to outline the status and indicative timelines for proposed financial services legislation.
- The government is committed to modernising legislation to support tokenisation of investment funds and private investment, including through examination of the Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicle Act 2015, Companies Act 2014 and Limited Partnership Act 1907.
- The DoF will establish a ‘Policy Delivery Forum’ to provide industry stakeholders with a forum to engage on issues related to financial services legislation.
2. Financial regulation
- The DoF will work with the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and industry on the implementation of the CBI’s ‘Simplification Roadmap’, the introduction of the CBI’s new Regulatory Impact Assessment and providing efficiencies, transparency and consistency for authorisation and pre-approval control function applications.
3. International banking
- The Banking and Payments Federation Ireland will support the international engagement work of government in targeted locations via the government’s ‘HQ Market Team’ (HQMT) (a governmental group that coordinates across government on international trade promotion and trade missions).
4. International and speciality insurance
- A ‘Specialty Forum’ has been established to support the growth of the specialty insurance sector.
- Insurance Ireland will support the international engagement work of government, coordinated through the HQMT and the Office to Promote Competition in the Insurance Market.
5. Digital assets and tokenisation
- The DoF will strengthen its engagement with industry on digital assets policy through periodic roundtables. This will also involve convening a ‘Digital Assets Industry Group’.
- The DoF will liaise across government to consider public sector use cases for digital assets.
6. Sustainable finance
- The DoF will review how structured finance in Ireland could support blended climate/sustainable finance initiatives.
7. Transformation and innovation
- The DoF will engage with the ‘AI Champion in Financial Services’ to drive action on challenges and opportunities. It will also consider developing an ‘Innovation Desk’ within the department.
- The CBI will continue to support the ‘Innovation Hub’ as the gateway for innovators to engage with it.
- Enterprise Ireland will examine how the ‘National Start-up Hub’ can support the IFS and fintech sectors.
8. Skills and talent
- The ‘Expert Group on Future Skills Needs’ implementation group will continue beyond its initial term.
- The DoF will explore research opportunities to deepen understanding of inclusion activity in the IFS sector.
- Target an increase in the number of jobs in the IFS sector to 70,000 by 2030, with 25% being regional jobs.
9. Enhancing links to businesses and citizens
- The CBI will monitor the strength of the links between the IFS sector and the domestic economy.
10. Governance
- The DoF will publish an ‘Annual State of the Sector’ report, to be published every February.
- The public-sector High-Level Implementation Committee and the Industry Advisory Committee will be reduced in size and will focus on assessing progress against KPIs, scanning for emerging trends and considering new policy proposals.
11. International engagement
- A range of actions to boost international engagement will be taken, including the DoF to assess opportunities in international hubs where department attachés are not present, enhance engagement with Ireland for Law on international promotion and consider enhancements to Ireland-UK structures for engagement.
The Strategy signals the government’s continued commitment to strengthening Ireland’s position as a leading IFS centre. While many of the actions will be implemented over the coming years, firms should monitor developments closely, particularly in relation to legislation, regulatory reform, digital assets and innovation.
ALG can assist firms with tracking implementation of key actions and assessing their potential business impact as further details emerge.
For further information on the Strategy, please contact Eoin O’Connor, Partner, Patrick Brandt, Partner, Eimear O’Brien, Partner, Louise Hogan, Partner, James Grennan, Partner, Laura Mulleady, Partner, Stephen D'Ardis, Partner, Emma Martin, Of Counsel or Sarah Lee, Senior Practice Development Lawyer.
Date published: 31 August 2026
