Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022
102. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he or officials from his Department have engaged in any form of communication with the World Economic Forum or representatives of the World Economic Forum including by phone call, webinar, email or any event organised by the World Economic Forum from 1 January 2019 to date; if so, the details of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14157/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Managing Director of the Centre for the New Economy and Society, World Economic Forum, was a key note speaker at the Future Jobs Ireland Summit 2019 organised by my Department in collaboration with the Department of the Taoiseach.
In the period from March 2019 to May 2019, there was correspondence and discussions between officials in the Digital Economy Policy Unit of my Department and World Economic Forum officials regarding the French Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy and World Economic Forum projects on AI Governance.
In October 2019, officials from my Department attended an online event for the pre-launch of the Global Competitiveness Report 2019. The key findings of the report were presented by a Project Specialist at the World Economic Forum.
In the period from October 2020 to May 2021, my office received a number of email communications from representatives of the WEF regarding invitations to attend WEF events including:
- 'The Great Reset' dialogue, December 2020
- Global tech governance summit, April 2021
- Special annual meeting, Singapore, August 2021 (this event was subsequently deferred until 2022)
Due to other commitments, I did not attend these events.
In November and December 2021, my office was in correspondence with World Economic Forum representatives regarding my planned attendance at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, which had been scheduled for January 2022. In November, one of my special advisers had a call with the WEF’s Deputy Head of Europe and Eurasia to discuss my participation in this event. The event was subsequently deferred until May 2022 due to the Covid-19 situation and I have received an updated invitation from the WEF.
