Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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70. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his recent engagements with the Governor of the US State of California, Jerry Brown, on his recent visit here in July 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37030/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I met with the Governor of California, Mr Jerry Brown, on 15 July last in the course of his private visit to Ireland. Governor Brown and I had a very useful meeting on a range of issues. We discussed the common economic issues facing both Ireland and California - the challenges in the global economic environment, tackling public finances and our shared interest in key sectors like technology and clean energy.Many Californian multinationals have operations and create jobs here in Ireland, which has been and remains enormously beneficial to our economy. Similarly California is a key centre for Irish companies with over 50 Irish companies having offices there and a further eight to ten new operations established in California by Irish companies each year, mostly technology companies. The trend is increasing and Governor Brown and I were pleased to note that the economic relationship between Ireland and California is very strong. We spoke too about our strong cultural and community links.

The Governor and I also discussed the prospects for comprehensive US immigration reform, which is an important issue for California, as well as being of particular interest to us with regard to the undocumented Irish in the USA.