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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 14 together.

I travelled to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos on 18 January. That evening I attended an IDA Ireland event where I met with some leading job creators in Ireland from across industry, including manufacturing, chemicals, technology and finance. On 19 January, I attended a foreign policy-focused event hosted by Lally Weymouth of The Washington Postwith guests including other leaders, heads of international organisations and members of the US Administration. That afternoon I participated in a panel discussion on widening Europe's horizons which considered how the new European political community can foster transformative political dialogue amid wider geopolitical shifts. My fellow panellists included the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola who will visit Dublin on 2 February. I also attended a dinner hosted by the World Economic Forum president, Børge Brende, which included other participants from the European Commission, the IMF, the OECD, other European leaders and representatives from industry.

During my visit, I had meetings with a range of international and political leaders, including the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, who will host the next European Political Community summit in June, and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the Belarusian democratic movement. We talked about her particular connection to Roscrea and Ireland, the political situation in Belarus and the ongoing war in Ukraine. I also met with Samantha Power, USAID administrator, and we spoke about Ireland-US aid collaboration on food security and child nutrition. I also met with the leader of the Labour Party in the UK, Keir Starmer. We discussed the importance of a strong British-Irish relationship and the ongoing EU-UK negotiations on the protocol, as well as our shared concern for the restoration of the Good Friday Agreement institutions.

I met with senior representatives of multinational companies of significance to Ireland, including Intel, Meta and Amazon Web Services. These meetings are typically an opportunity for company executives to update me on progress with their operations in Ireland and their future development plans, including in the context of current job losses across the tech sector. For my part, it was an opportunity to emphasise again Ireland's core strengths, including talent, stability and a proven track record.

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