Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD today announced that Cayman Islands headquartered Maples and Calder, a leading law firm in the Caribbean tax haven, which opened an Irish office in 2006 and has 175 jobs in Dublin, has plans to create a further 75 jobs within the next three years. Bruton said this is as a result of growing demand for both its international legal services and the fiduciary and fund administration services provided by its affiliate, MaplesFS. The Irish Government, through IDA Ireland, has worked with the company on this investment.

Maples and Calder was founded in the British-controlled Cayman Islands’ tax haven in the early 1960s and today is the largest law firm on the islands.  In 2008, a US government agency said in a report that Ugland House on Grand Cayman, the head office of the firm, was the registered office of 18,857 companies, offshore funds and financial entities in March 2008. The tax returns of Mitt Romney, the Republican Party candidate for US president, which were released last January, showed that he had funds in the Cayman Islands, Ireland and Luxembourg.

President Obama said in May 2009: “On the campaign, I used to talk about the outrage of a building in the Cayman Islands that had over 12,000 business — businesses claim this building as their headquarters. And I’ve said before, either this is the largest building in the world or the largest tax scam in the world. And I think the American people know which it is. It’s the kind of tax scam that we need to end.” An estimated $5trn in assets worldwide is held ‘offshore’ in tax havens.

The Government said today that the Maples group comprises Maples and Calder, an international corporate and finance law firm, and MaplesFS, an independent provider of specialised fiduciary and fund services. Clients include many of the world’s foremost corporates, banks and financial institutions as well as private equity funds and growth companies.

Making the announcement, Bruton said “International financial services is a key target sector of Government as part of our plan for jobs and growth, and the Taoiseach has set the target of creating an additional 10,000 jobs in the sector by 2016. Today’s announcement that this world-leading financial and legal services provider, which only came to Ireland in 2006, is expanding its workforce with the creation of 75 jobs, is great news. The success of the Maples Group in Ireland demonstrates the potential for future growth in this sector, and through continued implementation of the Action Plan for Jobs we are determined to build on this and create the jobs we need”.

Managing Partner of Maples and Calder in Dublin, Andrew Doyle, said “We continue to expand our business in Dublin to better serve our clients here as well as international clients who are carrying on business in and through Ireland. Our growth has been driven by the calibre of the people who have joined Maples in Dublin over the course of the last five years.”

Commenting on the expansion, CEO IDA Ireland, Barry O’Leary said “The strength and depth of industries such as Aircraft Finance and Investment Funds in Ireland is a major attraction for leading corporate and financial services firms such as Maples. As the IFSC has gained critical mass as a global financial hub, international law firms, such as Maples, have been attracted to locate in Dublin both to service existing clients and to win incremental business.”

For more on this story go to: www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1024498.shtml