Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 13, inclusive, together.

The visit to this country by the US President, Barack Obama, and the First Lady, Michelle Obama, was a very tangible expression of the warmth and strength of the relationship between our two countries. It was also a great opportunity to show a positive image of Ireland to the world, building on the images from the historic visit by Queen Elizabeth the previous week.

During the course of my bilateral meeting with the US President, we had a broad discussion covering a range of issues. We discussed the global economic situation and I briefed him on our strategy for overcoming our economic difficulties and the range of important decisions and initiatives taken by the Government since we took office. I informed him of the priority that we are giving to job creation through the jobs initiative, as well as the actions we have taken on the banking system and the initiation of a comprehensive review of expenditure as a central plank in the strategy to reduce the budget deficit.

We discussed the progress made so far in our discussions at EU level and with the IMF-EU-ECB troika. I shared my analysis of that with President Obama, as I did with Prime Minister Cameron when I met him. While acknowledging that these were primarily matters for discussion in an EU context, I used the opportunity to ensure that the US Administration was clear on our objectives in trying to improve on the current programme and our determination to take the necessary action at home to deal with our problems.

We reflected in our discussions on the common aspects of the economic challenges we face, notwithstanding the huge difference in size between our two economies. We discussed trade and investment between our countries, including the importance of foreign direct investment by American investors in Ireland and the fact that 80,000 Americans across 50 states work in Irish-owned companies. I assured the President that US investment is most valuable to Ireland's economic recovery and emphasised that Ireland is also creating employment in the US. I repeated that we will retain our 12.5% rate of corporation tax. The President updated me on progress with the reform of the US corporation tax system and we agreed that our officials would stay in touch on the matter.

We discussed developments with regard to Northern Ireland, including the Assembly elections, the very strong community reaction to the murder of Constable Ronan Kerr and the Government's intention to further develop all-island co-operation, including in discussions at the North-South Ministerial Council plenary meeting on 10 June. I expressed my appreciation to the President for the long-standing and continued engagement by the US in the peace process.

I raised the prospects for immigration reform in the United States, following the President's recent speech on the matter. He updated me on progress to date, on what remains a very difficult domestic political issue in the US. We also discussed a range of international issues, including developments in the Middle East and Afghanisation and our joint initiative on food security and the fight against hunger.

We did not have any specific discussions about the Government's new initiative to engage the Irish diaspora in efforts to create jobs in Ireland.

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