As the new year dawns, the January issue highlights the factors that indicate that the Irish financial services sector faces a potential future that is better than at any time over the past 35 years. Accordingly, the appointment as new Financial Services Minister of Jennifer Carroll MacNeill as part of the Government's rotation of top ministerial responsibilities last month is at a time of great opportunity.

These opportunities exist at both domestic financial services level, as detailed on page 4 of this month's issue, and for Ireland's IFS industry. The latter is the focus in this month's cover feature - the UK's FS industry agenda for the City, unveiled last month by UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

The Finance Dublin Yearbook 2023 (forthcoming) will detail the stories and people of the centre's big successes in the past year and provide a detailed overview of its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, benchmarked against its competitors. The January issue previews some of those developments, such as Unicredit's return with a tie up with Azimuth that echoes its first foray into Ireland, 26 years ago with its establishment of Pioneer. SMBC's confirmation as No 2 aircraft lessor globally, by fleet size is another example.

Also in aviation leasing developments, the role of the Irish courts in insurance resolutions of the seizure of aircraft by the State of Russia shows Ireland's growing stature in commercial disputes, analysed on p7 of this month's Epaper. The 'Ireland for Law' agenda will be at the forefront of Finance Dublin's coverage again in 2023, and the implications, alongside the issues raised in January's cover feature relating to UK developments will be tracked through the new year.

Also in this month's issue: Corporation taxation, now confirmed as the biggest tax head in the 2022 Exchequer returns, saw Pillar 2 get the go-ahead in December (feature); the pulse of the economy as the new year starts, and detailed analysis of sustainable finance, and the challenges arising for Ireland in contributing creative and innovative solutions as a leading green finance centre.

The past year's trends are surveyed in our cover story. It has been a turbulent year, but also in many ways a landmark year. Those landmarks raise hopes about several features of the near term future for Ireland, business, the economy, and the financial services sector, both domestic and international.

The economic backdrop is benign. It indicates that from a growth and pure financial point of view Ireland has totally got it right. In it, we point to "a hugely significant factor, accounting for, in 2022 alone, a decline in the absolute size of the national debt of 790 basis points. This follows a 660 basis point decline in 2021, and 140 in 2020, the peak year of the pandemic". This indicates that a potentially viable and sustainable future lies ahead for the Republic of Ireland - that relatively is more attractive indeed than any other coutry in the continent of Europe as the new year dawns.

Leading edge thinking is evident through the rest of the publication, in our features, and 'This Month' articles, as well as in the December 2022 Irish Tax Monitor, where we reference the benefits of a move towards a territorial tax system, and examine latest developments on the BEPS front, including its implications for the insurance industry.

There are factors that give grounds for optimism, and in the November 2022 issue we present them not least to provide some balance to the picture as 2023 comes into view. Economic crisis has been the order of the day in Ireland's neighbouring island, and we comment on developments arising from the replacement of the British Prime Minister in our editorial this month, looking behind the headlines at two more fundamental issues that remain embedded at the heart of Irish and British politics, and economics.

These concern Brexit, and the, associated, issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol. There are ideas floated there, in regard to Brexit, down the road for Britain, and the governance of Northern Ireland, which we would commend for discussion.

Invest NI's Regional Director - Ireland, Jenny Santiago Young writes there that "the companies operating in risk and compliance in Northern Ireland are a valuable asset to Ireland. They can help the Irish funds industry meet increased regulatory requirements and continue its impressive growth and expanding remit". The investment funds industry is also prominent in other areas not least in the cutting edge contributions of the thought leaders that write in the November issue on issues at the forefront of the asset management industry's current concerns, in issue No 8 of the Finance Dublin Funds Monitor. and, for cutting edge thinking on corporate tax matters see the Roundtable in this month's: Irish Tax Monitor.

In the October issue of Finance Dublin we mark 35 years of Finance Dublin's publication this year with the launch of a new service for subscribers that provides a continuous digital archive going back to our very first publication, FINANCE Magazine, in 1987. It completes a project which has involved the photographing and indexing of over 15,000 pages of the publication, our annual yearbooks, going back to the first edition in 1992, and the component articles and images.

The issue also contains a rich menu of insights, ranging from the assessments of our Roundtable contributors from Deloitte, BDO and Maples Group in the Irish Tax Monitor, Ireland's insurance industry, the funding market as well as in this month's editorial (below) where we quote John F. Kennedy to remind us that we are in a war situation, given the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and that we can count ourselves lucky to an extent that the Irish economy is in good shape, given the wise tax and trade policies pursued by successive Irish Governments.

The September issue of Finance Dublin provides insights on a white hot talent market in financial services, with all the old familiar concerns about overheating and competitiveness concerns that brings. This is notwithstanding the overall economic and markets backdrop, and speaks to the underlying strength of financial services in the jurisdiction as we begin to look to the prospects of a new year, in 2023.

The second part of the annual Finance Dublin accountancy industry survey focuses on the labour market and hiring plans of top firms as managing partners continue their insights on the market. The broader financial services market has ended summer 2022 in buoyant conditions. It will be boosted in a positive way by plans and ideas for next generation skill and product development, such as those by IDA Ireland and leading recruitment specialists in the issue.

In the latest edition of the Finance Dublin Funds Monitor the Roundtable addresses key contemporary questions, including the rise of active management strategies in fund management agendas as the old certainties that supported passive investing recede. The expert analysis of the practitioners on AIFMD II and the changes in the Manco sector in Ireland also feature, as does the search for ESG 'truth'.

The budget season is upon us, and in the Irish Tax Monitor many learned suggestions are made, including on the important questions around the maintenance of the vital Section 110 regime.