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

I did not give the full answer to the question I was asked earlier. The total salary cost is €1.16 million and the average salary is a little under €50,000.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 14, inclusive, together.

I attended the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from 23 to 25 January. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, also attended. This annual event in Davos provides a unique opportunity to network informally with political leaders and senior decision-makers from civil society and the corporate world. I had extensive opportunities, formal and informal, to convey important messages about the strength of Ireland's economy, our perspectives on Brexit and on the future of Europe, our ambition to expand the scope and impact of Ireland's international presence as well as our approach to international challenges like climate action, sustainable development, migration, international trade and taxation.

I had numerous formal engagements. I did several media interviews with Irish and international media, including Euronews, Reuters and Bloomberg. I attended an event hosted by the Gates Foundation, which focused on international development issues. I had the opportunity there to discuss Ireland's approach to international development with Bill Gates and others in attendance and to inform them of the Government's increase in its overseas development aid budget for 2019 as well as our plans to focus on the education of girls, nutrition and some other matters. I participated in a plenary panel discussion on the future of Europe alongside the Prime Minister of Netherlands, Mr. Rutte, Poland's Prime Minister, Mr. Morawiecki, Commissioner Malmström and Ana Botin of Santander Group. I participated in a young leaders session, where I discussed Ireland's perspectives on current European challenges. I attended a lunchtime event with political, academic and business leaders where the challenges and opportunities of globalisation were discussed.

I also had the opportunity to speak bilaterally with a number of my European Council colleagues, including Chancellor Kurz of Austria, the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, the Prime Minister of Poland, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr. Xavier Bettel, and the Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr. Charles Michel. We discussed Brexit and other EU issues, including the multi-annual financial framework. I also had meetings with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Philip Hammond, briefly, with the UK Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, with the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol. I did not meet any Chinese politicians or representatives of Chinese companies.

I had meetings with senior executives from US multinationals with operations in Ireland, including Tim Cook of Apple, Andy Jassy of Amazon, Chuck Robbins of Cisco, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, as well as Nick Clegg, and Mike Nally of MSD. My discussions focused on Ireland's perspectives on Brexit, trade and international taxation. The companies updated me on their operations in Ireland and their plans for future expansion.

I also spoke at the annual IDA Ireland Davos dinner event, which was attended by 50 senior executives of existing and prospective IDA Ireland client companies. I emphasised the strengths that underpin Ireland's success in attracting foreign direct investment. This is now a well-established feature of the annual Davos programme and an important element of IDA Ireland's client engagement strategy.

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