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 (see page 8 of this issue). 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 2023 dawns.

How this may underpin the financial services industry is examined there, as it is in other features in this issue, including ideas discussed at various industry conferences in the past month, including the Central Bank's inaugural Systems conference as well as other keynote events such as the Financial Services Industry annual dinner and the annual conference of the Federation of International Banks.

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.