John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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46. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she travelled abroad as part of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations; the locations she travelled to; the duration of the trip; the cost of the trip, including travel and accommodation in addition to other expenses incurred; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18899/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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This year I travelled to the United States of America from 10 to 18 March as part of the St Patrick's Day "Promote Ireland" Programme for 2017. Traditionally, Ministerial visits abroad are organised at this time to maximise the promotion of Ireland’s investment, trade and tourism interests and in this instance to convey a positive message about Ireland's commitment to remaining in the EU.

As part of the programme of events, I visited San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco where I attended a number of engagements organised by Irish community groups and met with various business leaders. There were three broad elements - support for the activities of the State Economic Agencies; Irish community outreach; and building political ties. Strengthening Ireland's relations with California was a key objective of my visit as economically California is Ireland's largest trade and investment partner in the US, and Ireland benefits from the Californian economy especially in Silicon Valley.

During my visit to San Diego I attended the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Irish Community Celtic Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert McElroy and met Irish Community representatives of the San Diego Gaelic Athletic Association, the J1 Community and the Irish American Bar Association.

While in Sacramento I met with Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newson, the Attorney General Xavier Becerra. I also visited VoxPro, an award winning provider of Multilingual Customer and Technical support which was founded in Cork and now has offices in three locations in the USA as well as Athens, Georgia, Bucharest and Romania. I also attended the celebration of Irish Heritage month in the California Assembly.

My visit to San Francisco included an IDA-organised programme of meetings with key IDA clients in Silicon Valley as well as meetings with the Irish Network Bay Area Business representatives, the Irish Technology and Leadership Group, meeting the Board of Directors of the United Irish Cultural Centre and an Immigration Reform Briefing. I also visited Stanford University and met with a number of Irish students.

In keeping with Government policy, the programme was undertaken in the most cost efficient way possible as set out in the table attached: