Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1045. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of occasions on which he has visited Brussels since his appointment; the purpose of each visit; and the meetings that occurred during each visit. [46517/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Since my appointment as Minister, I have travelled to Brussels on one occasion in order to attend the Transport Council. This was in December 2016. I am currently planning on attending Transport Council in Brussels again next month.

The main reason for travelling to Brussels is for EU related business, in particular to attend Transport Councils or to meet with my Ministerial counterparts from other Member States or members of the European Commission or European Parliament. However, there are opportunities outside of Brussels to do likewise.

I have attended Transport Councils in Luxemburg on two occasions, in June 2016 and June 2017, where I had the opportunity to meet with my Ministerial colleagues and with Commissioner Bulc.

Over the past few months, I have met separately with a number of my Ministerial counterparts and other EU related persons on a range of transport matters.

For example, I had the pleasure of welcoming the EU North Sea – Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor Coordinator Prof Péter Balázs to Dublin in April where we discussed issues relating to TEN-T and the implications of Brexit.

In May, I met with the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure, Anna Johansson, in Stockholm on road safety and Brexit matters, and also met with the UK Secretary of State for Transport, Rt Hon Chris Grayling, in London for detailed discussions on Brexit. 

In June, I met with members of the Welsh Assembly’s External Affairs Committee on matters to do with Ports and Irish-Wales connectivity in the context of Brexit.

In September 2017, I had a phone conference with Ken Skates AM Cabinet Secretary for Economy & Infrastructure, National Assembly for Wales on Brexit related matters. Also during September, I met with Deirdre Clune, MEP, on a range of transport matters. 

More recently in October 2017, I welcomed Commissioner Bulc on her visit to Dublin to undertake a range of meetings on transport and Brexit matters.