Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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225. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to undertake a trade mission to Spain; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36885/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In 2012, the value of Ireland’s exports to Spain was €5.43 bn making Spain our 9th largest export market. In 2012, the latest year for which full data is available, Ireland’s services exports to Spain reached their highest level ever with a value of €2.7 bn.

Spain is one of the most open and internationalized economies in Europe and holds a privileged position in Latin America and North Africa as an investment platform. In multiple sectors, several Spanish companies are placed among the largest European firms in terms of turnover and market capitalization, such as Telefonica, Santander, BBVA to name but three. Spain enjoys a modern infrastructure network, thanks to heavy investments in infrastructure having taken place over the last 20 years, covering highways, rail-way, airports and ports.

The strategy for Enterprise Ireland, which has an office in Madrid servicing both Spain and Portugal, is twofold:

- to raise the profile of Ireland and the awareness of Ireland as a key supply base in priority sectors of opportunity such as the life science, telecommunications, media & entertainment, travel and finance sectors

- to maintain the foothold of Irish companies which have a strong presence in Spain in an increasingly competitive environment by looking for ways to develop their offering and search for new potential customers.

There are currently no plans to organise a full Trade Mission to Spain. As part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs, Enterprise Ireland are organising 18 ministerial-led in market events around the globe this year, ranging from fully-fledged multi-sector trade missions to more specific events designed to support companies in a particular sector or addressing a specific end-market opportunity. These events are planned and scheduled to maximise the resources of Enterprise Ireland and their client companies in addition to gaining the strongest impact from the interventions of Ministers from the various Government departments.

As part of the Government's 2014 Ministerial-led St Patrick’s Day “Promote Ireland” programme, the then Minister of State for Small Business, Mr John Perry T.D., visited Spain between the 12 and 15 March of this year. The programme involved multiple bilateral meetings with Enterprise Ireland target companies as well as Tourism Ireland and Bord Bia promotional events.

As regards further events planned for 2014, the local Enterprise Ireland office in Madrid will host two in-market trade events this October:

- a national stand at the International Maintenance Repair & Overhaul aviation event (MRO Europe) with some 7 Irish companies exhibiting and

- a Travel IT sector conference for some 8 EI client companies seeking business with representatives from the Spanish hotel and tourism sector.

I am confident that this job focused trade and investment-related programme has helped Enterprise Ireland cement relationships with their Spanish partners and win access to key decision-makers in target sectors which should facilitate employment growth.