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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together.

I had a very positive meeting with Ms Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, in Government Buildings on 25 June. I also hosted a dinner to mark her visit to Ireland on the evening of 26 June. Our exchanges covered the economic outlook, international trade and gender equality issues.

On the economic outlook, we discussed the latest IMF article IV assessment of the Irish economy. We agreed that the economy was enjoying a period of strong growth and increasing employment but that we must proceed carefully to ensure the benefits were shared throughout the country, while guarding against the type of policies that had resulted in the boom and bust pattern of the past.

On trade, we discussed the risks posed by growing international tensions. I welcomed Ms Lagarde's strong and vocal advocacy for preserving and deepening the rules-based multilateral trading system, which is, of course, crucially important to our own highly open economy. We agreed that in a trade war there would be no winners.

Ms Lagarde also informed me about the work she was doing to advance gender equality, including placing it at the centre of the IMF's work. I offered her my strong support in that regard. I also took the opportunity to highlight some recent Government initiatives in this area, including the recently published Gender Pay Gap (Wage Transparency) Bill and the Better Balance for Better Business initiative which I subsequently launched on 30 July and which aims to increase women's representation on company boards and in senior management roles.

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