Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on his attendance at the annual conference of the Bilderberg Group: if he attended the conference on official business; and if he will provide details of any Irish officials attending the conference; the issues he raised at the conference and those who attended the conference from other countries: the details of the full cost of this trip; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28587/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I attended the Bilderberg meeting in Westfield Marriot, Chantilly, Virginia, USA, from 1 to 3 June 2012. I, like a number of my European colleagues (both Ministers and EU Commissioners), was invited to attend given my position as Minister for Finance. I travelled alone and the total cost associated with my travel and accommodation came to €4,358.33. For further information, I would point Deputies to the Bilderberg Meetings website (www.bilderbergmeetings.org), which includes information on the organisation's governance, steering committee, meetings and associated press releases.

At this meeting and its workshops I took the opportunity to set out to my fellow attendees the opportunities that exist in Ireland for investors and multinational companies. I also outlined the significant progress Ireland is making in restoring stability and growth to the economy. The Government is focused on encouraging as much investment as possible into Ireland and over recent months we have seen the strong level of inward investment in our economy and have seen the announcement of over 1,000 jobs per month from Foreign Direct Investment so far this year. I would point out to Deputies that a number of the business attendees represent companies which have very significant investments in Ireland that support thousands of Irish jobs.