Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 259: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the date for each year since 2000 of pre-budget meetings held with the Department of Finance and the Department of the Taoiseach; the attendees at such meetings; if an agenda was circulated in advance; if minutes of such a meeting were kept; if not the reason for same; if officials were directed not to keep minutes of such meetings; if so, by whom and the date of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter [17565/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the estimates process each year, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, I would normally have a formal bilateral meeting with the Minister for Finance to discuss the Department's needs for the year ahead.

The dates of these meetings, in respect of each year of my predecessor's term as Minister for Foreign Affairs, are set out below. The bilateral meetings in previous years were, I understand, held around the same time, 31 October 2007; 20 September 2006; 20 October 2005; 22 October 2004.

The normal pattern at these meetings is that I would be accompanied by the Minister of State responsible for the Irish Aid programme, the Secretary General of the Department, the head of the Department's Corporate Services Division and one or two senior officials dealing with the Irish Aid programme.

This bilateral meeting would normally be preceded by consultations at official level with the Department of Finance. In addition, as part of the preparation for the bilateral meeting, I would expect to hold internal meetings with officials from the Department. It is not the normal practice to take minutes of these meetings, though there is no instruction to that effect.

In addition, as the Deputy will be aware, the preparation of the budget is a matter which is discussed at Cabinet, in advance of the publication of the Estimates.