asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will give details of the number of trips he has made abroad and the countries visited in an effort to obtain more foreign industrial development here, since he took up his present appointment; and what benefits resulted from these visits.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Industrial Promotion Visits Abroad.
77.
Since I became Minister for Industry and Commerce in 1966 I have participated in eight industrial promotional visits abroad— five to the USA and one each to Austria, Sweden and Britain.
It is not possible to quantify the benefits directly attributable to ministerial visits abroad. As a result of all the promotional methods utilised, the numbers of projects promoted by external industrialists which have had grants or other facilities approved in the period in question were 33 in 1966, 54 in 1967 and 49 in 1968.