IFSC

I moved here few months ago. I used to study in NCI so I know the area very well. I remember those Saturday mornings, and those girls in pyjamas going to spar.
The area has almost everything. Transport — Luas, Dart, Bus direct to the airport, shops like Spar, Mark and Spencer, Fresh, CHQ, Starbucks and many many more good places. The restaurants: Musashi, Eddie Roket, J2 sushi, Freshii, Wine rooms, Harbourmasters, Ely etc.
The one minus of the place is that all shops are closed at 10pm and I miss Boots.

Irelands International Financial Services Centre. It might not sound that interesting, but I am a fan of the place. Then again, I work here. It’s like the Irish Wall Street. All the major banks and even some top IT companies are located here. Just a few years ago this place was all businesses, but thanks to the new developments and the LUAS now traveling all the way to The Point, there are many great pubs and eateries in the area. If you are lucky enough to live here as well you will find everything you need in about a five minute walk, including a few great places for steaks and a couple sushi bars as well.

I only was in the IFSC for the first time a couple of weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised, yet slightly confused. It’s like a tiny village in the centre of the city, filled with offices but actually looks really nice. The IFSC is really functional in that it has everything that the average office drone would need in one place, shops, restaurants and the like, and has a nice aesthetic quality to it, even if it is all concrete and chrome. The IFSC is a bit of a rarity, but I still have no idea what it stands for.

I hadn’t ventured to the IFSC before last week, when I spent the week working there, and my reasons are obvious enough. When you’re visiting a city why on earth would you bother checking out its financial district, unless you absolutely had to? Goes without saying, they’re usually quite dry, boring places.
This one’s not bad though, I have to say. It’s quite new so it’s designed to contain everything modern day business folk could possibly want or desire. So basically cafes, restaurants, newsagents and a few green sit-​down areas in which to chomp down a bit of lunch between meetings.
They even hold a farmer’s market on Wednesdays at lunchtime, to provide the suits with a bit of variety for their lunchtime meals. I was impressed to find that they’ve even put in a little shopping centre, the CHQ building, for those business types who have lots of money to spend on loved ones but no time to spend it. Your Christmas shopping all done in a few lunch hours — perfect!

One of the few positives from CJ’s reign as High King, the IFSC was instrumental in the creating the Celtic Tiger. An over-​reliance on it is what’s basically dicked us over the last year.
I take it back, the only positive from CJ’s reign is the free bus pass for pensioners.

The IFSC looks like this: take all the 30 something’s you could possibly find in Dublin, dressed in their office attire and dump them in one place. Let them roam the various restaurants at lunchtime, shop in the chq and drink wine outside the always packed Ely wine bar.
Throw in the National College of Ireland, a couple of pubs and put it all beside a really big bridge, just down the street from O’ Connell ST.
Voila! There you have the IFSC.

The IFSC. All tall (ish) and gleaming green glass, the IFSC is like Ireland’s low-​rent answer to Wall St.
When the IFSC was built, people thought that Haughey was crackers, as there was absolutely no demand for a centre for international financial institutions at the time. But, just like a paranoid-​delusional Kevin Costner heard in the ‘Field of Dreams’: «If you build it, they will come» — and come they did. A lot of this was presumably to do with the IFSC’s corporate tax rate being two and a half per cent lower rather than a load of dead baseball greats emerging from betwixt the crops, but whatever works for you.

If I worked in the IFSC, I would probably give it a better rating than 3 out 5 because I would have an insider’s perspective. But I don’t work here so I can only comment on the happenings of this neighbourhood as I casually stroll by every morning and evening.
The IFSC is an acronym for International Financial Services Centre. It was set up in the late 80s and swelled up during the Celtic Tiger days. Nowadays, it’s still a hub for banking, finance, investment and insurance.
The area is more than mega sized office towers. There are a number of restaurants and shops along the streets Mayor and Lower Mayor.
The Luas will soon stop in the main square so the traffic will only increase from now on.
I don’t recommend the IFSC for tourists but I think locals would enjoy some of the businesses here. Eno Wine and Bar Italia are great for post work tipple and nibbles.