Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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137. To ask the Minister for Finance the bilateral meetings he has had with his EU counterparts to date in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46707/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As part of my ongoing international engagements, I meet monthly with my EU counterparts at meetings of Eurogroup and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN). I also meet regularly with colleagues on a bilateral basis whenever opportunities present themselves outside the Council format.

At the last monthly meeting of Eurogroup and ECOFIN on 7 and 8 November I met with my Belgian counterpart, Alexander De Croo, and my Slovakian counterpart, Ladislav Kamenicky. I also meet regularly with my colleagues from the so-called Hansa group: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.

I hosted my French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire, in February 2019, and we also held a meeting in Brussels in May 2019. I also meet regularly with my UK counterpart, Chancellor Sajid Javid, hosting the Chancellor at Farmleigh House in September this year, and most recently meeting in October en marge of the IMF & World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. I look forward to meeting my German counterpart, Olaf Scholz, later this month.

In addition to these formal bilateral meetings, in the margins of Council meetings I also have informal contacts with my counterparts on a regular basis.

I intend to continue my dialogue with all of my Finance Minister counterparts in the period ahead, and I also look forward to early engagement with Commissioner-designate Gentiloni once he takes up office.

Details of my meetings to date in 2019 are set out in the table below.