Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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259. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he has plans to invite his French counterpart (details supplied) to Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5290/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Having only recently been appointed as Minister for Defence, I haven't yet had the opportunity to meet my French counterpart, the Minister of the Armed Forces

However, I will be attending an informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers in early March in Stockholm, hosted by the Swedish Presidency. On 20 March, I will attend a combined meeting of EU Defence and Foreign Ministers in Brussels.

I am very anxious to engage bilaterally with as many of my colleagues as possible to ensure that Ireland's interests and concerns in the evolution of the EU's Common Security & Defence Policy are well understood.  I intend to use the margins of such ministerial meetings to schedule a number of these bilateral engagements.  I will also take the opportunity of bilateral visits to meet my defence counterparts.

There are already strong contacts between Ireland and France at the level of our respective ministries and our militaries and I am anxious to see that continuing. In that regard and given the broader relationship between Ireland and France, as our nearest EU neighbour, I am keen to arrange an early meeting with my French counterpart and I hope that it can be arranged as soon as possible.