Nora Owen
Ceist:1 Mrs. Owen asked the Taoiseach the schedule of engagements he will undertake on his forthcoming visit to New York; the preparatory meetings he will have in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21595/99]
Ceisteanna – Questions. - Official Engagements.
Ruairí Quinn
Ceist:2 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the proposed programme for his forthcoming visit to the United States; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21668/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
I will travel to New York tomorrow evening, 10 November, where I will undertake a number of engagements before returning on Friday, 12 November. During my visit, I will address both the National Committee on US Foreign Policy and the Irish Business Organisation. I will also host a breakfast meeting for members of the Ireland America Economic Advisory Board. In addition, I will meet the Governor of New York, Mr. George Pataki, and Mayor Giuliani. I will visit the Consulate General of Ireland in Ireland House and meet the heads of Irish State Agency New York Offices. A comprehensive press programme includes meeting both mainstream New York and the Irish American media.
Will the Taoiseach list the people who will travel with him to New York? Will he spend some of his time in New York on private fundraising efforts for Fianna Fáil? If so, has he considered refunding the £25,000 from the Leader's allowance which was used to pay off the debts or some of the debts of a member of the Fianna Fáil Party?
What will be the private end of the Taoiseach's visit? Is he breaking his public visit on behalf of the country to do a couple of functions? I understand that is the case.
I do not have the list of who will be with me but I will give it to the Deputy.
Will he give us even an idea of it? Will there be ten or 15 people?
Will you bring her back a rock?
I think there will be about six people.
How will he travel?
He will swim.
By Government jet. I will attend one private function. I will meet members of the Fianna Fáil committee. I do not even know if it will be a fundraiser; it is a very small group. If it is, what we normally do is give a contribution towards the costs.
Does the Taoiseach mean that if he will do some private work, he will give a contribution to the costs of the Government jet?
I will not do any private work. I do not consider work for Fianna Fáil as private work. When I go to New York I normally meet the Fianna Fáil committee. Once a year we normally do a fundraiser in New York. We will not do that, as it happens, this year but I will meet the Fianna Fáil group and some people with it. If that meeting turns out to be a fundraiser, as I have said in the House before, we normally give a contribution towards the costs of the trip. However, in this case my trip is not for party purposes. My trip has another purpose, as the Deputy will see from the programme and from what is going on at present.
Is the Taoiseach confirming to the House that whatever function he might attend on behalf of Fianna Fáil involves meeting a small Fianna Fáil group and perhaps some people who might pay some small donation for meeting him, and that there will not be a major fundraising dinner, function or functions despite the fact that people have been asked to functions? The functions may have collapsed now, but my information is that there have been invitations.
Would the Deputy ask a question?
The Taoiseach met the Ireland America Economic Advisory Board when he was there for St. Patrick's Day. Would it not be more appropriate for it to travel to Ireland for this meeting? Why did the Taoiseach feel it necessary to go to America to meet these people seeing that last year he indicated that he hoped that group would come to Ireland? Does he think it would be more appropriate for the group to come to Ireland to examine the kind of projects in which he hoped it might have become involved?
I will refer to two matters because I do not want to mislead the Deputy. This is an official trip. I have not been in New York since I was elected Taoiseach almost two and a half years ago although I have met the advisory board in Washington. There will be one short period where I will meet some of the Fianna Fáil committee. I assume the committee, as it normally does, could invite other people to meet me. If the committee raises any money on those occasions, we normally give a contribution towards the costs and we will do that again if that is the case in this instance. It is usually a small sum because we are not as lucky as other parties in the House who can raise big money in New York – I believe the Deputy's party is very successful in that regard also. However, that is not the primary purpose of such functions. We do not have an annual dinner this year in New York but one took place last year and the year before.
The New York advisory group visited Ireland last year and I met its representatives in March. It is not its intention to return here this year but it hopes to do so next year. During the past ten years various Taoisigh have met representatives of the group when visiting New York or Washington.
I challenge the Taoiseach on that.
There are no challenges on Question Time, only questions can be raised.
I wish to raise with the Taoiseach his powers of recollection. In a reply to a Parliamentary Question on a previous occasion, he stated that it was agreed—
The Deputy is quoting.
I am not quoting. The Taoiseach stated that it was agreed—
Will the Deputy please confine herself to questions?
—at his meeting on March 18 with representatives of the Ireland-American Economic Fund that the next meeting of the fund would take place in Ireland. Why has the plan changed and why will the Taoiseach travel to New York to meet them?
The Deputy states that I am merely travelling to New York to meet representatives of the fund. On my arrival I will have a press breakfast at 9 a.m. with the Irish-American media in Fitzpatrick's Hotel, at 11.45 a.m. I will meet the New York Editorial Board, at 1.15 p.m. I have an interview with CNN International, at 2,30 p.m. I will meet Mayor Giuliani, I have an interview with RTE at 4 p.m., at 5 p.m. I will attend a Fianna Fáil function for one hour and I will then meet the Irish Business Organisation. I will also have a series of meetings on the following day including those with the Irish America Economic Advisory Board, the heads of Irish State agencies in New York in the Consulate General's office, I will then give a number of interviews with various interview groups, meet Governor Pataki, have lunch with the American Committee on Foreign Policy, give a number of further interviews and then return home.
I will not travel to New York with the express purpose of meeting representatives of the group to which the Deputy referred but I will meet them while I am there. As the Deputy is aware, these people work on a voluntary basis and they do not receive expenses. When they visit Ireland, I meet them and I also meet them if I am travelling abroad.
If the SMI committee in the Department of the Taoiseach was to evaluate the benefits of the Taoiseach's forthcoming visit, would it conclude that the itinerary he listed represents 48 hours well spent?
Without a doubt.
The Minister is not yet Taoiseach.
The Deputy is familiar with this matter from experience.
The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources appears to be having delusions – he is not yet Taoiseach.
The reshuffle will be the end of the matter, Deputy Woods.
Why is the Taoiseach travelling to New York? Is he in a position to indicate the possible benefits which may result from such a visit?
The interviews to which the Taoiseach referred could be given here at home.
My visit, not merely the meetings with the three prestigious groups to which I referred, will be of significant benefit. As Deputy Quinn is aware, the advisory board is of significant value to this country and provides great help in attracting foreign investment.
I will return to that matter, I asked a different question.
The Irish Business Organisation—
On a point of order, what does the Taoiseach hope to achieve from his visit?
I hope to update the various groups and bodies, including the media, on the current position in respect of the peace process. I also hope to outline what is happening in foreign direct investment. The Deputy will be aware that views have been expressed at international level regarding the path the country will take in the coming years. All of my speeches to these three major bodies, which represent several hundred business organisations, will outline the current state of our economy and society and our plans for the future. In the two day period I will attract enormous exposure for the country. Most of my television interviews will probably deal not with the economy but will concentrate on the peace process.
Will the Taoiseach be informing the Irish-American Economic Advisory Board of the advice the Tánaiste has given to American companies wishing to invest in Dublin, namely, that they are not welcome? Will the Taoiseach tell the group, on behalf of the Irish Government, that foreign direct investment in the Dublin region has reached saturation point and that if it is contemplating—
The Deputy is raising a separate issue.
The Taoiseach said he is going to America to meet the Ireland America Economic Advisory Board. I am asking if he will tell the board what the Tánaiste told a group from Wexford about investment in the Dublin region. Will he say to the Ireland America Economic Advisory Board that, as far as foreign direct investment from North America is concerned, Dublin has reached saturation point?
This year we have attracted a quarter of the foreign direct investment into Europe. That is an extraordinary achievement which I hope can be maintained.
Will the Taoiseach answer the question?
I will explain in detail, as I always do in the United States, the benefits of being part of the Irish economy. The references made by the Tánaiste relate to changes after Objective One and grant aid which now exist in Dublin as against other parts of the country.
That is not the case.
It is not the case that direct investment into Dublin will cease. I will not try to stop people coming to Dublin, but I will explain the benefits of the Government's policy of regional and balanced development, to try to move industries around the country. We are completing the global cross-connectivity cable from the United States which gives us the opportunity to generate more activity.
I also hope to put an end to the fallacy that we are short of people. The reality is that the Irish labour market will continue to grow at 4 per cent for the next decade while the rest of the EU will grow at 2 per cent. A number of issues have been gaining strength, for obvious reasons, in the last few months and I will address them also.
May I ask a follow up question?
Very briefly. We cannot spend any more time on this.
In the light of what the Taoiseach has said, may I take it the Tánaiste said to others that the IDA is not discouraging direct foreign investment in the immediate—
I have pointed out to the Deputy that that is a separate question.
I do not think it is.
The Chair has ruled that it is a separate question. The Deputy should accept that ruling and table a separate question on the issue.
I accept the ruling but I think the Ceann Comhairle is wrong.
In keeping with what was agreed last March when he chaired a meeting there, is the Taoiseach going there at the invitation of the Ireland America Economic Advisory Board and is he taking with him a list of the further infrastructure programmes he hopes this body will support? That is the supposed aim of the meeting.
I follow the precedent set by Taoisigh over the past ten years: whenever the individuals of the advisory board come here on their own business – five or six have come this year – I encourage them to continue to assist, and they do. I place on record my thanks to them. Some new members have been recruited onto the economic advisory board whom I have not met yet – a number of them were not present at the meeting in March. These are people who have been approached by our ambassador or consul to assist the effort. I will talk to them about a number of issues and make them aware of the national development plan. They are also anxious about public private partnership.
We must proceed now, we have spent 25 minutes on those questions.