Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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64. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his recent visit to Germany; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36489/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I visited Germany on 28 August at the invitation of the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, who invited me to speak at the “Economic Day” at Germany’s annual Ambassadors’ conference. The event was attended by over 200 German Heads of Mission and some 700 German business people from all sectors of the economy. Later, I had a constructive bilateral meeting with Minister Maas where we discussed Brexit at some length. Germany has been a consistent supporter of Ireland in the Brexit negotiations, something we greatly appreciate, and this was reaffirmed by the Minister both in our meeting and in the subsequent press conference. We also had very useful exchanges on the EU’s Multi-Annual Financial Framework, migration and the implementation of the recently-published review of Irish German relations, including the opening next year of a Consulate in Frankfurt.

I then met with the CEO of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, and this was followed by a background briefing, hosted by Reuters, for a number of political correspondents in the German press and broadcast media. I also did an interview with Reuters TV.

Germany is an indispensable partner for Ireland, both in the European Union and bilaterally. It is our fourth largest trading partner; our third largest tourism market and our second largest inward investor. The Government places the highest priority on maintaining and developing our relationship.