Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount spent on trade trips abroad by his Department and the State agencies under its aegis over the past four years, including to date in 2007; and if he will provide a categorical breakdown of the expenses incurred. [13620/07]

Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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A wide variety of different trade activities is undertaken by Enterprise Ireland (EI) on behalf of my Department. This includes Outward Trade Missions, some of which are led by a Minister, usually either by myself or by Minister Martin; there have been 74 such Ministerial-led Missions since 2003. In addition, Inward Missions organised by EI are made of behalf of buyers and business partners. EI also organises participation in Trade Fairs and other marketing activities on behalf of its client companies. The latter make a financial contribution towards their involvement in most events. The following table gives details of Enterprise Ireland costs in organising these various trade events since 2003, as well as the income received from participants.

The information set out in the table below represents the vast bulk of the expenditure on trade events over the years in question. The Deputy will appreciate that while there are likely to be some additional incidental costs, which have arisen in both the Department and EI, these are relatively minor in terms of the overall activity.