merrion street

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will travel to London this evening to meet Irish business leaders, Irish community representatives and to address an academic conference on the Ulster Covenant, at King’s College London.

On Thursday morning the Tánaiste will host a working session with Irish representatives in the British construction, financial services and agri-food sectors. The purpose of the session is to look at possible opportunities for Irish firms to collaborate with British companies in pursuit of major business in international markets, as agreed between the Taoiseach and Prime Minister David Cameron when they met in Downing Street last March.

Following this, the Tánaiste will deliver an address at King’s College London, opening an academic conference entitled “The Ulster Covenant 1912 – 2012”.

He will also meet representatives of Irish community organisations in Britain and will announce the award of grants of over £5.7 million (€7.27million) to 113 organisations all over Britain under the Emigrant Support Programme.

Speaking in advance of his visit, the Tánaiste said:

It is a great pleasure for me to take this opportunity to further develop the close relationship between Britain and Ireland, symbolised by the successful visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland last year, and to focus on the key areas identified by the Taoiseach and Prime Minister when they met in March.

“Our overriding priority is to promote deeper economic cooperation, and identify new opportunities for Irish businesses operating in the United Kingdom. I look forward to hearing the views of senior Irish businesspeople in London on how best this might be developed.

I also wish to personally thank representatives of Irish community organizations for their work, particularly those providing frontline services to the elderly, vulnerable and marginalised.