Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 44: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of bilateral meetings he has held at EU level; the issues that were discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27384/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Government came into office with an explicit commitment to restore Ireland's standing as a respected and influential member of the European Union. Members of the Government are availing of opportunities to meet their EU colleagues, as well as representatives of the European institutions, to underline the Government's constructive engagement with the European agenda and to ensure close working relationships at political level across the Union.

Since taking office six months ago, I have attended a number of EU ministerial meetings and at this stage have had the opportunity to exchange views on the key issues on the EU agenda with all my EU colleagues. These contacts are critical in conveying and ensuring a good understanding of our objectives and interests and of positions we are taking on EU and international issues.

I have had, on the one hand, formal bilateral meetings with a number of counterparts and on the other, a wide range of informal discussions in a variety of fora. In April, for example, I met with my counterparts from Luxembourg and Finland on the margins of the General Affairs Council meeting of 13 April.

In May, I met the United Kingdom's Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague, in London. During the Queen's visit to Ireland, I had the opportunity of further meetings with Foreign Secretary Hague. I also in May had a detailed exchange of views with the French Foreign Minister, Alain Juppé. Our discussion focused on issues on the international agenda, including the Middle East peace process and the events of the Arab spring, as well as economic issues.

In July, I met the German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, for bilateral consultations in Berlin. The focus of our discussion was on economic issues and we also addressed international issues including the Middle East and the Arab spring. I have also had extensive bilateral contact with my Lithuanian colleague, Audronius Azubalis, and with the Lithuanian Prime Minister, Andrius Kubilius, on issues related to Ireland's forthcoming chairmanship of the OSCE, as well as the EU Presidency responsibilities which we both will assume in 2013.

Last week, I had bilateral discussions with individual EU counterparts at a number of events we attended together on the margins of the UN General Assembly opening week in New York. These events included the ministerial breakfast on mediation on 20 September, which also was attended by the Finnish, Belgian and Swedish Foreign Ministers, the high level meeting on Libya and the traditional EU-Russia and EU-US meetings.

The Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, has also had a substantial number of bilateral meetings at EU level, including with the secretaries general of the Commission and the Council and the President of the European Parliament, as well as with British, French, German, Polish, Bulgarian, Slovak and Greek counterparts.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Tánaiste for his response. He raised this issue himself last July when he referred to a meeting he had held with Mr. Alain Juppé. I tabled a question in the context of the clear need to have a carefully planned programme of engagement in respect of both Ireland's EU-IMF programme and the Tánaiste's responsibilities with regard to trade. I suggest that what the Tánaiste has set out for Members today constitutes a disappointing level of bilateral engagement. The Tánaiste's reply indicates there were at most six formal bilateral meetings. As far greater activity is required, does the Tánaiste have in place a plan to have a comprehensive level of bilateral engagement both on the EU-IMF programme and with regard to his highly specific and important responsibilities in the area of trade promotion? What seems like two informal engagements with Mr. William Hague, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, of our major trading partner, appear to be an inadequate response to the challenges facing us.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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As I stated, I have met all my EU colleagues. Some of these meetings have been formal, bells and whistles, bilateral meetings, while some have been discussions on the margins of EU Foreign Affairs and General Affairs Council meetings and various UN and OSC meetings, to which there has been a number of objectives. In the period leading up to our renegotiations with the European Union and the IMF it was clearly important to brief all the Foreign Ministers on Ireland's objectives and, in particular, to discuss directly with them the issues and difficulties surrounding the reduction in our interest rate. There were also requests from other countries in respect of our corporation tax regime. The bilateral meetings I held with the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Juppé, and the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Westerwelle, in particular, were focused on the reduction in the interest rate and the issue of the corporation tax rate. As the Deputy knows, we have now secured a reduction in the interest rate and at the same time retained our rate of corporation tax.

Regarding my meetings with the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. Hague, I remind the Deputy that in the course of the British Queen's visit to Ireland we established a British-Irish chambers of commerce for the first time, formalising the trade relationship between Britain and Ireland.