Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The various meetings have built on the hard work done day in and day out by our small but talented diplomatic corps and officials in the Department of Finance. There is constant engagement by officials and Ministers with our colleagues in Europe, including at formal meetings, on visits and in meetings of our political families. In the past two weeks, for example, I have been in Paris and I also attended a meeting with President Hollande in Brussels. I will be in Berlin on Friday. The Taoiseach had a formal meeting with the French President on Monday and was in telephone conversation with Chancellor Merkel on Sunday. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has also been meeting his counterparts. This is the constant work in which we are engaged to put forward Ireland's case. It is the patient diplomacy that will successfully achieve the result we need.

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