Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 10: To ask the Minister for Enterprise; Trade and Innovation his plans to meet with the CEOs of multinational companies considering Ireland as a location to do business [6846/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Since becoming Minister,I have met and had discussions with the chairmen, chief executives and senior executives in key companies, both indigenous and foreign direct investors, across a range of sectors. Many of the companies involved already have substantial and valuable activities in Ireland while others are considering major investments here for the first time.

On 17 and 18 March last, accompanied by the CEOs of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, I travelled to Germany and undertook a business programme in Berlin, Dusseldorf and Cologne. Part of that programme involved meeting with senior German executives of existing and target client companies of the IDA. During April, on trade missions to India , Saudi and London, I met senior executives from a wide range of multinational companies and had the opportunity to outline the recent positive developments in the Irish economy and the attractions of doing business with us

It is my intention to travel to the United States next month in the company of senior officials from my Department and the IDA to meet with CEOs and senior executives of companies located on the west coast. These meetings will provide me with an opportunity to speak directly to senior executives of companies about Ireland as a location for investment and will include existing and target companies. They will also allow me to hear, at first hand, the issues which industry considers important if Ireland is to retain this standing, and I continue to work with my Government colleagues to address these issues in a positive fashion.

I am confident that support from myself and Government colleagues will bolster ongoing contacts between the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Shannon Development with a wide variety of potential investors and lead to the creation of a pipeline of new business and the creation of high quality jobs.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad the Minister intends to be proactive in this regard. On the question of selling Ireland abroad, is the Minister aware of a document produced by a number of business leaders, entitled Blueprint for Recovery? This document contains a number of suggestions the Government could pursue to sell Ireland abroad. Also, the Twitter organisation is currently considering a substantial investment, which seems to be down to a choice between Ireland and the United Kingdom, and I understand the British Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, has already met the executives of Twitter. Has anybody met the Twitter executives on behalf of the Irish Government?

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I have not met with Twitter executives, but on foot of the Deputy's inquiry, I will inquire as to what contacts have been made and whether there is an opportunity to get access at an appropriate level to try and influence such a choice.

I read the document Blueprint for Recovery as I was travelling from India to Saudi Arabia in the middle of the night and perhaps my recollection of it is not quite as sharp as it should be. It did make valuable suggestions, but many of them were suggestions that had been in previous reports. As I mentioned earlier, I am conducting a root and branch review of what we are doing in our agencies across all programmes and policies and I will look at the suggestions made to see whether they can be factored in to that. We will consider any good suggestions. The suggestion in the media today for a finder fee came from an individual with considerable international experience and is brilliant in a sense. It is something that should be tried. We are willing to try any good ideas and I will revise suggestions with a fine tooth comb to see what initiatives we can test.