Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Deputy seems to know a lot about it. It is a pity he did not remind me of this before I went to America to meet Treasury Secretary Geithner. Obviously, it was not discussed because the assertion had not been made in an article by the economist Professor Kelly. I am sure that, if the Deputy had known of it in advance, he would have informed me of it. In so far as that is concerned, I do not have the minutes of the meeting that took place in Asia. I understand that it was not on the agenda and I am not privy to the side comments made during any discussion that took place at that meeting.

In so far as the discussions with the President of the United States are concerned, we discussed immigration, our restructuring of our banks, trade both ways between the two states, foreign direct investment by American investors in Ireland and the fact that 80,000 Americans across 50 states work in Irish-owned companies, many of which have been assisted by Enterprise Ireland. We discussed the range of issues in so far as Europe was concerned. We will continue that measure of contact and connection between both Administrations. The information flow between the Department of Finance on behalf of the Government here is conducted with Treasury officials in Washington. A senior official was out there just a few weeks ago giving a full briefing in so far as progress about meeting our commitments and developing our economy were concerned.

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