I propose to take Questions Nos. 123 to 127, inclusive, together.
The remit of my Department involves significant engagement with business in Ireland involving small and large indigenous companies and multinational corporations. Therefore, my Department has had a significant number of meetings and engagements with the companies in question during the seven year period covered by these questions and a variety of issues across the wide remit of the Department would have been discussed at these meetings.
In the time available, the following list of meetings with the companies in question has been collated, however it is not possible to supply a definitive list of the dates of every individual meeting that may have taken place.
Date
|
Meeting
|
3 February 2012
|
Meeting between officials and Facebook to discuss the amendment of Section 40 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act
|
5 April 2012
|
Meeting between officials and Google in the context of my Department’s responsibility for administering EU licensing requirements for the export of Dual-use items to third countries
|
20 February 2013
|
Meeting between Facebook and Minister Sherlock on general copyright issues
|
16 May 2013
|
Minister Bruton meeting senior Facebook Executive
|
25 June 2013
|
Meeting between officials and Microsoft on Trade Marks Directive
|
3 September 2013
|
Meeting between officials and Microsoft in the context of my Department’s responsibility for administering EU licensing requirements for the export of Dual-use items to third countries
|
15 January 2014
|
Informal meeting with Apple on topics such as the app economy and innovation.
|
5 February 2014
|
Meeting of Google with Minister Bruton about Data
|
27 March 2014
|
Meetings between officials and Google on Trade Marks Directive
|
29 August 2014
|
Meeting between officials and Microsoft in the context of my Department’s responsibility for administering EU licensing requirements for the export of Dual-use items to third countries
|
12 September 2014
|
Minister Bruton meeting with Apple to discuss their Cork plant and their report on the app economy.
|
15 October 2014
|
Meeting between Google and officials on copyright and trademark issues
|
7 November 2014
|
Minister Bruton meeting with Apple to discuss Budget 2015 Initiatives and other developments
|
4 December 2014
|
Meeting between the Secretary General and Google on a number of issues
|
5 December 2014
|
Meeting between Department and Google about Overview of Google investment in Ireland, Update on business development and future trends, Knowledge Box proposal & Entrepreneurship & Innovation policy in the EU context
|
9 December 2014
|
Meeting between officials and Google in the context of my Department’s responsibility for administering EU licensing requirements for the export of Dual-use items to third countries
|
18 March 2015
|
Meeting between Google and officials on general copyright issues
|
3 June 2015
|
Minister Bruton meeting Senior Facebook Executives to discuss investment
|
8 October 2015
|
Meeting between Minister Bruton and Google Executive to discuss developments at Google including the creation of Alphabet and data centre development in Ireland.
|
17 December 2015
|
Meeting with Minister Bruton to discuss details of previously announced expansion and other issues
|
15 February 2016
|
Meeting between officials and Microsoft on the Annual Business Survey of Irish Economy Expenditure
|
26 April 2016
|
Meeting between Google and officials on copyright issues
|
1 June 2016
|
Minister Mitchell O Connor meeting Senior Microsoft Executives to discuss Company development, Cloud Computing, US Developments & Data Centres
|
15 September 2016
|
Meeting between Apple and Minister Mitchell O'Connor to discuss the proposed extension of activities in Cork, and timescales, and update on proposed development of data centre in Athenry, and general review of other areas
|
6 March 2017
|
Meeting between Facebook and officials on EU Copyright Directive
|
6 March 2017
|
Meeting between Google and officials on EU Copyright Directive
|
29 June 2017
|
Meeting between Microsoft and officials on EU Copyright Directive
|
11 October 2017
|
Roundtable event attended by Minister Breen, Facebook, Apple and Google
|
24 October 2017
|
Meeting between officials and Facebook, IBEC and Google on EU Copyright Directive
|
27 November 2017
|
Meeting between officials and Facebook on EU Copyright Directive
|
11 January 2018
|
Meeting between officials and Google on EU Copyright Directive
|
1 February 2018
|
Minister Humphreys meeting Apple to discuss; Apple in Ireland – scale, activities, direct and indirect employment levelsApple in Cork – update on extension of campus and proposed scale of activities, general overview of other areas, including App Economy
|
7 March 2018
|
Minister Breen meeting Apple to discuss issues
- Platform Regulation
- National Digital Strategy
- GDPR/Data Protection Bill
- Digital Single Market
- Digital Safety
|
22 March 2018
|
Meeting between officials and Microsoft in the context of my Department’s responsibility for administering EU licensing requirements for the export of Dual-use items to third countries
|
26 March 2018
|
Meeting between officials and Facebook on EU Copyright Directive
|
25 April 2018
|
Officials from my Department attended a workshop convened by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and Microsoft
|
7 November 2018
|
Conference call between officials and Apple on platforms to business regulation
|
13 December 2018
|
Visit of DBEI officials to Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 2 regarding the use of Google’s Foundry as a potential venue for a DBEI internal event
|
30 January 2019
|
Walkthrough by DBEI officials in Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 2 regarding finalising plans for DBEI internal event on 1st February
|
1 February 2019
|
Courtesy greeting between DBEI Secretary General and DBEI officials and Google in Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 2
|
27 February 2019
|
Meeting with American Chamber of Commerce and Microsoft
|
As a significant user of Microsoft software products, officials from the Department’s ICT Unit met with Microsoft on a number of occasions since 2012. These meetings were about routine matters such as service delivery, product capability, and licensing issues. Because of the routine nature of such meetings, detailed records are not kept. No discussions on matters of public policy would have taken place.
Meetings would also have taken place on an occasional basis between the Employment Permits Section of my Department and the companies concerned to discuss and explain the employment permit system during the period in question.