Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together.

I travelled to London on Friday, 27 July to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Prior to the ceremony, I had the honour to meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace where, along with other world leaders and key figures in the sporting realm I attended a reception. We then travelled on to the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony, which was truly a spectacular event.

Earlier in the day I met the Irish Olympic athletes who were based at the Irish camp in St. Mary's College in Twickenham. We were greeted by the Irish team's chef de mission, Olympic silver medalist, Sonia O'Sullivan. I congratulated all the athletes and their back-up teams for their efforts in qualifying and representing Ireland at the Olympics and said that they carried the dreams of the Irish nation with them. I wished them all the best in their respective fields.

During the course of the day, I met the Governor and Republican Party US presidential candidate, Mr. Mitt Romney, at the Embassy of Ireland. The meeting, which was at Governor Romney's request, was an opportunity to discuss the close state of Irish-US relations, Ireland's economic recovery and the development of EU-US trade. I informed him of our preparations for Ireland's upcoming Presidency of the EU.

I returned to London on 12 August to attend the closing ceremony of the Olympic games. I commend the Olympic organising committee on an outstanding job as the games were a huge success. I would like to put on the record of the House my admiration for the efforts of all of those who competed for Ireland and, in particular, my congratulations to those who won medals. I would also like to take this opportunity to repeat once again my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to all those who represented Ireland in the Paralympics. The Government has since hosted receptions in Farmleigh for the Olympic and Paralympic athletes, their coaches, families and friends.

The UK Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, invited me to attend an event on "hunger" which he was hosting prior to the closing ceremony. A small group of countries with a high profile in the area of nutrition were invited to participate in this global event, along with representatives of international organisations, the private sector and civil society. The event aimed to raise the level of political commitment to combat the problem and to stimulate the development of new products and services to improve nutritional levels in developing countries. I was invited to contribute on the overall challenge of under-nutrition and had an opportunity to emphasise the priority Ireland will attach to building further political commitment to address hunger and nutrition during our forthcoming Presidency of the EU in 2013. I stated that the eradication of hunger is a cornerstone of Ireland's foreign policy and that we are determined to play our part in putting solutions into practice. I informed the group that Ireland spends 20% of its Irish Aid budget on programmes that directly address hunger and nutrition and that we will continue to meet this target.

Following the global nutrition event, I had a meeting with Mr. Ertharin Cousin of the World Food Programme. I congratulated her on her recent appointment as executive director of the WFP. I reiterated Ireland's priority in eradicating hunger and achieving global food security and said that I looked forward to working with the WFP to deliver the international conference on hunger, nutrition and climate justice during Ireland's EU Presidency.

I have no immediate plans for a meeting with the UK Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron. I do expect, however, to see him at the forthcoming European Council meeting on 18 and 19 October.

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