Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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124. To ask the Minister for Finance the contact he or any Minister in his Department have had with any minister or official in the government of Israel since January 2014; the nature of these contacts, the purpose of these contacts; if a record was kept; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39070/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In the time available, the diaries of the offices of the Minister for Finance and of the Minister of State at the Department of Finance have been examined in line with the Deputy’s question.

The records show that the former Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, attended a lunchtime meeting with the former Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, Mrs. Lironne Bar Sadeh on 2 March 2023. The purpose of this meeting was to mark the conclusion of the then Ambassador’s assignment to Dublin. There was no formal agenda or specific topic for discussion.

On 18 May 2023, former Minister of State MacNeill and Department of Finance officials met Rahav Shalom-Revivo, Head of Financial Cyber Innovation and International Engagements at the Israeli Ministry of Finance at Dublin Castle. Ms. Shalom-Revivo was a speaker on the Fraud, Error and Debt Panel at the Global Government Fintech Lab at Dublin Castle that day. Topics discussed at the meeting included the work of the Israeli Ministry of Finance in the area of cybersecurity, the cyber threats to the financial services sector and ensuring women are encouraged to take up senior positions in the sector.

I am also informed that Minister of State Carroll MacNeill, at the invitation of the Ceann Comhairle, was among a group of Oireachtas members who met with the Israeli ambassador and her deputy head of mission in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of 7 October that year.

I would also point out that given Ireland’s membership of a number of international financial institutions and multilateral organisations, my role and that of my predecessors involves participation at ministerial-level meetings of those organisations. Examples include the OECD, IMF and World Bank - my predecessors have attended these meetings where Ministers and officials from Israel would also have been present.

It is also the case that diplomats accredited to Ireland, including the Israeli ambassador, are occasionally invited to formal state events that are also attended by Ministers and Minister of State.