Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 3 to 10, inclusive, together.

I was invited by Professor Klaus Schwab to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum and I travelled to Davos for 21 January to 23 January. The annual meeting is attended by political and business leaders and heads of international organisations from across the globe. The theme of this year’s meeting was "The new global context". On Wednesday evening, 21 January, I attended a function hosted by Professor Schwab, executive chairman of the forum, and this was also attended by other heads of government and the business council of the World Economic Forum. On the Thursday morning I participated in a high level plenary session to discuss economic growth and political stability in Europe. The other panellists in the discussion were Sigmar Gabriel, Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany; Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands; Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma of Latvia and the then Prime Minister of Finland, Alexander Stubb.

For the past four years, I have hosted an IDA Ireland dinner as part of Ireland's participation in the World Economic Forum. Each year, IDA Ireland has secured representation at the very highest levels from both existing and prospective foreign direct investment clients from some of the world’s largest multinational corporations and future technology leaders for this dinner event. There were 23 companies represented this year and these companies employ approximately 24,000 people in Ireland.

I outlined Ireland's path towards economic recovery and how we are steadily moving up the global competitiveness rankings. I emphasised that Ireland today is a key location of choice for manufacturing, services, research and development and strategic investments, noting also our young well educated and flexible workforce. I acknowledged the vital contribution that many of the companies represented had made to Ireland and to our economy and urged those who were looking at potential locations for investment or expansion to consider Ireland. IDA Ireland is actively following up on discussions regarding potential employment and investment projects with a number of these companies. I firmly support the IDA Ireland view that attendance at this event greatly enhances awareness of Ireland as a potential foreign direct investment location. In addition, I undertook media engagements alongside IDA Ireland, and held bilateral meetings with eight existing and prospective foreign direct investment companies, which employ approximately 700,000 globally and over 7,000 people in Ireland.

While in Davos, I had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand. I congratulated the Prime Minister on his return to office following the September elections in New Zealand. We discussed the excellent bilateral relations between Ireland and New Zealand and ways of expanding trade and investment between our two countries, noting that we both have small, open and vibrant economies. We also noted that our two countries are unique in the world in our agricultural practices and could benefit from information-sharing and expanded trade in this area. We discussed the challenges of hosting the Rugby World Cup and Ireland's bid to host part of the 2023 event.

I did not meet with the President of Ukraine in Davos.

The World Economic Forum provides an exceptional opportunity to interact with key players in the business world and I availed of every opportunity to promote Ireland as a key location for international business and investment. Participation in the World Economic Forum has helped achieve positive outcomes in terms of investment into Ireland in the past and will continue to do so.

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