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The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, TD travels, today, Thursday, to the UK today for a two-day visit to Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow for a series of engagements with the Irish community and attendance at a Summit meeting of the British Irish Council.

The Taoiseach will address the Irish Community at St Michael's Community Centre in Liverpool, a British Irish Chamber of Commerce Event at Grant Thornton in Manchester and an Irish Community Event at the Irish World Heritage Centre in Manchester.

During the course of his engagements, the Taoiseach will set out the Irish Government’s position on the forthcoming UK referendum on EU membership. While recognising that this is a matter for the UK electorate, he will acknowledge that Irish citizens living in the UK form part of that electorate and restate the reasons why the Irish Government wants the UK to remain in the EU including (a) the support that the EU provides to Northern Ireland and the peace process (b) the common travel area and free movement between the islands (c) the importance of the UK as an ally in the EU (d) the inter-dependence of our economies, particularly regarding trade.

The Taoiseach will then attend the 26th British Irish Council (BIC) Summit, hosted by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in her home city of Glasgow, after which he will address an Irish Business Network event in the offices of RSM Partners in Glasgow.

The BIC Summit meeting will be attended by First Minister, Arlene Foster, deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, Scottish Secretary of State, David Mundell MP for the UK, and representatives from all other Member Administrations.

The Council is likely to discuss the priorities of Member Administrations, most of whom are newly mandated following elections this year. The Taoiseach will take the opportunity to outline the policy priorities in the new Programme for Government.

A Communiqué will issue from the BIC at the conclusion of the Summit.