THANKS TO the activities of Sean FitzPatrick and others, it’s fair to say that Ireland Inc’s street cred isn’t very high at present.

The IFSC has variously been described as “Liechtenstein-on- the-Liffey” and the “Wild West” by international media.

Yet remarkably, Dublin has been ranked as a top 10 global financial centre for the first time.

Dublin moved up three places to 10th in the latest edition of the Global Financial Centres Index, which is produced twice a year by the City of London.

Top spot once again went to London, followed by New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and Zurich. Dublin leapfrogged Tokyo and Sydney and put extra daylight between itself and Luxembourg, Paris and Toronto.

When broken into categories, Dublin was ninth in asset management and sixth in terms of insurance. Our capital city was eighth in terms of general competitiveness.

Intriguingly, Dublin was ranked fourth – behind London, New York and Hong Kong – by people who aren’t based here. This, according to the report’s commentary, shows Dublin is “better connected” than its overall rating would suggest.

In its commentary, the report said of our fair city: “Dublin has benefited from the Irish Government’s investment over the past decade, which has made Ireland a cost-efficient location for banking operations. Dublin is also an attractive destination for investment and corporate tax residence.

“Dublin has climbed three places in the rankings despite recent worries about the Irish economy as a whole.”

The report was compiled in the months leading up to the end of December, when much of the bad news about Anglo Irish Bank and our other financials was already in the public domain.

The Irish Banking Federation described the report’s findings as “a welcome vote of confidence from the international community”. Indeed.

“Going forward, the focus must be on shaping the most appropriate policy and regulatory environment,” the IBF added. Never a truer word was spoken.