Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Finance the reason for his attendance at the Bilderberg Conference; the names of the persons with whom he had bi-lateral meetings with at the conference and the nature of their discussions; the business generated for Ireland from the conference and if there were notes taken at these meetings, if these will be available under a Freedom of Information Act request; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30664/12]

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 focussed 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.