I look forward to chairing the informal meeting of the Council of Economics and Finance Ministers of the EU, ECOFIN, on 2 to 4 April, in Punchestown, Country Kildare. This meeting will be among the largest and most important to take place in Ireland over the period of the Presidency. It will be attended by some 300 delegates and up to 400 media personnel. The national delegations from the 25 member states of the enlarged EU will be led by Ministers for Finance and central bank governors in each case. The attendance will also include a number of Commissioners, among them President Prodi, and other distinguished representatives of EU institutions, including Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank.
Preparations for the meeting are well in hand. Delegates will be accommodated in a single location — the Citywest Golf Resort Hotel in Saggart, County Dublin. The meetings of 2 April of the Eurogroup and of 3 April of ECOFIN will be held in the event centre in Punchestown, which will be specially adapted for the purpose. The large media attendance will be accommodated in a number of local hotels and will cover the meetings from the Punchestown racecourse facilities close to the event centre. The main hospitality arising will be a dinner for all delegates which I will host in the K Club, Straffan, County Kildare, on 2 April and a dinner similarly for all delegates that the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. John Hurley, will host in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, on 3 April.
There are many other detailed aspects to organising a meeting of this size and importance. A dedicated team in my Department has been arranging these logistical aspects for some time. I am satisfied the meeting will be successful both at an organisational level and at the level of moving forward with the demanding policy agenda that the Presidency and ECOFIN agreed for the six month period of the Presidency.