Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 114: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will report on her recent official visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the investment or employment commitments secured during the visit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19821/09]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 138: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which comparisons were made by Irish exporters with those in other jurisdictions in the course of her recent tour abroad to promote manufacturing and investment here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20220/09]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 139: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if in the course of her recent overseas visit to promote Irish exports and generate investment here, she received many enquiries from potential investors in relation to the cost base here; if particular aspects of manufacturing cost were particularly noted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20221/09]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 140: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of export contracts achieved for Irish exporters in the course of her recent tour to promote Irish exports abroad; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20222/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 114 and 138 to 140, inclusive, together.

In the course of my recent Trade Mission to Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and to Doha in Qatar, on which I led 64 Irish companies, I officiated at a range of events and high level meetings to strengthen relationships with key contacts in the Saudi Arabian and Qatari markets and to raise the profile of Ireland as a source of quality innovative goods and services.

In addition, Enterprise Ireland organised about 1,500 one-to-one and sectoral group meetings with existing and potential customers for these companies. The majority of these were in the engineering, project management and environmental services sectors and many of the Irish companies also subsequently held follow-on meetings. A number of companies and organisations made announcements of agreements reached during the Mission and further progress will be made in the near future as further contracts are secured.

This Mission was particularly significant as many economies in the Gulf region are very vibrant, with substantial opportunities for our internationally traded services companies. The Governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are investing heavily in their economies in many sectors where Irish companies have innovative solutions and can provide value added expertise, products and services, with built-in flexibility and, above all, value for money. The issue of cost, per se, was not the focus of attention.

The Irish companies were recognised as being well positioned to compete on these markets on the basis of highly differentiated products and services that offer unquestionable value for money.

I am very confident that the work undertaken on this trade mission will lead to the further expansion of Irish exports to this region.

The main purpose of the mission was to identify and secure business opportunities for Irish exporters to the Gulf. Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to raise awareness in these emerging markets that Ireland is an attractive location for foreign investors. In fact, I found that there was a high level of awareness of our track record in securing major investments from many of the world leading multi-nationals, over many years.

In relation to the position of Irish exports on world markets, I welcome this opportunity to set out the factual position. Contrary to what is claimed by some commentators, Ireland's Export performance has been very impressive in recent times. Data for 2008 shows that our total exports were €153.8bn; a fall of less than 1% on 2007 and our trade surplus was a very healthy €21.4bn. This was a very noteworthy performance, when account is taken of the global recession and the strength of the Euro against both the US Dollar and Sterling, as the US and Britain are our two largest export markets. In addition, we have achieved considerable success in developing new markets, with significant export growth achieved to China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brazil and some of the new EU Member States.

Further evidence of Ireland's strong performance is illustrated by the fact that Ireland's share of EU exports increased from 2.2% for the quarter Nov. 07 - Jan. 08 to 2.5% for the same period a year later and in January 2009 it stood at 2.7%. The level of exports from the EU as whole, actually fell significantly - down 23.9% in the quarter December 2008 - February 2009, so our performance is even more remarkable in that context.