Vol. 546 No. 3
354 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the meetings, formal and informal, of European Union Councils relevant to his portfolio held since June 1997; the number of such meetings personally attended by him; and where not so attended, the person who led the Irish delegation at such Council meetings. [31945/01]
Although there is no EU Council formation relating specifically to the functions of my Department, I have attended or been represented since July 1997 at a number of informal meetings of EU Ministers. These included, in the case of sport the following meetings: June 1998, Paris; May 1999, Paderborn, Germany; November 2000, Paris; †October 1999, Helsinki; *May 2000, Lisbon; *November 2001, Brussels; and in the case of tourism: *November 2000, Lille; and *July 2001 – Bruges.
*Represented by Minister of State at my Department, Deputy Eoin Ryan.
†Represented by senior civil servant at my Department.
A number of other Presidency-organised EU tourism meetings and conferences have also taken place at which I was represented at official level.
