Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 15, inclusive, together.

I had a three day visit to Seattle, Silicon Valley and San Francisco from Wednesday, 1 November, to Friday, 3 November. The primary focus of the visit was growing trade, investment and tourism opportunities between Ireland and the US and highlighting Ireland’s priorities in the context of Brexit and other international developments.

In Seattle, I spoke at an event attended by approximately 250 people from Seattle's business community, as well as local Irish community representatives. I used the opportunity to emphasise Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for US investment and highlight our firm and ongoing commitment to our European Union, EU, membership. I also met representatives of Amazon and Microsoft, who between them employ over 5,000 people in Ireland. Our discussions focused on Ireland’s leadership in driving the digital agenda and the companies’ continued commitment to Ireland as a location for their global operations and European, Middle East and Africa, EMEA, headquarters.

I then travelled to Silicon Valley and the Bay area for a series of business engagements with existing and potential investors in Ireland. I visited the headquarters of a number of companies with significant investments and operations in Ireland, including Cisco, Facebook, Google and Apple. At each of these meetings, senior executives outlined their very positive experiences in Ireland, including the strong capabilities of their Irish-based workforces, and the positive outlook for their operations here. I was particularly pleased that Facebook announced its intention to create hundreds of additional jobs in its Irish operations next year. At my meeting at Apple, its chief executive officer, Mr. Tim Cook, highlighted the company’s very positive and long-standing experience of their Irish-based operations, particularly in Cork. The company briefed me on its data centre needs, including in particular its current data centre development in Denmark, and it confirmed that it will consider the Athenry site in the context of future business requirements. I advised the company of the Irish Government's approach, including the recent decision to designate data centres as strategic infrastructure for planning purposes. This morning the Cabinet gave the relevant Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, the authority to prepare an amendment for Report Stage of the current planning Bill to do exactly that. We also had a brief discussion regarding the European Commission’s state aid case and on regional and global economic challenges.

In San Francisco, I spoke at a reception in City Hall hosted by the city's mayor, Mr. Ed Lee, and attended by approximately 300 Irish-American business and community leaders. I was also awarded the key to the city. I spoke about Ireland's economic and social transformation, Ireland-US relations and the strong and vibrant Irish community in San Francisco and the Bay area. I also had the opportunity to meet with the family of Ashley Donoghue, one of the people tragically killed in Berkeley in 2015. Also in San Francisco, I spoke at an Enterprise Ireland business networking event attended by 250 people, using the opportunity to promote the strength of Ireland’s innovation ecosystem and highlight the depth of our highly skilled workforce. I also met representatives of a number of Enterprise Ireland clients exhibiting at the event.

I officially opened the new San Francisco office of Irish company Linesight, which is projecting job increases of 200 worldwide in 2018, including approximately 90 jobs in Ireland. I attended the announcement by IDA client company, Twilio, that it has chosen Dublin as the location for its EMEA headquarters, with the establishment of 100 jobs. I attended a Tourism Ireland event with representatives of the travel industry and airlines, where I had the opportunity to promote Ireland’s tourism offering. I was very pleased to hear word at that meeting of the Aer Lingus plan to begin direct flights to Seattle, which has now been announced. Finally, I had the opportunity to meet senior executives from Lucasfilm and hear their positive experience of Ireland as a location for the Star Wars series.

I did not have detailed discussions during the visit on US tax reform proposals, which are entirely a matter for the United States, or on EU digital tax proposals, where our position is clear and consistent that, reflecting the international nature of the digital economy, this topic must be pursued on a global basis through the work of the OECD. No arrangements have been made regarding a visit for President Trump but I look forward to meeting him during the annual St. Patrick's Day functions in Washington, DC, next March. Overall, my visit to the west coast was very positive and a great opportunity to develop the strong links between Ireland and the United States, as well as promote Ireland's priorities in the context of Brexit and other global developments.

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