Lobbying the Minister

Michael Noonan’s pre-Budget diary appointments included business representatives, fellow politicians and two visits to Europe.

Peter Cheney reports on the Minister’s meetings during the preparation of the Government’s financial plans.

Business reps

Two early business meetings were with representatives of US-based fund manager Hedgeserv (3 September) and Kirby Engineering Group (5 September).

The afternoon of Tuesday, 16 September, was particularly busy for business briefings. After meeting Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, Noonan was scheduled to see the Arts Council, Retail Ireland, the Irish Exporters Association and the Drinks Industry Group.

On Thursday, 18 September, Jean Lemierre from French bank BNP Paribas was in the diary for 11.30am-12noon. Lemierre was appointed as the bank’s Chairman on Monday, 24 September. The bank has operated in Ireland since 1973 and employs 200 staff in Dublin, mainly in fund management.

PwC’s Head of Tax, Feargal O’Rourke, was the Minister’s first appointment on 24 September. The next major business meeting was with AIG to welcome their jobs announcement on Thursday, 25 September. Half an hour went to Eddie Irwin of Coolmore Stud on 2 October. Brian Higgins, founder of King Street Capital Management, was booked in for a 10-minute phone call on 9 October. Louise Phelan and Mark Redmond, from the American Chamber of Commerce, had separate meetings with the Minister on 10 and 13 October. The chamber represents 700 inward investors.

Down to Limerick

Constituency business is an essential feature in any politician’s diary. Among the lighter moments in the Minister’s diary were visits to the Limerick for a reception in King John’s Castle, Limerick (6 September), the local party AGM (19 September), and an exhibition of the new fleet of Limerick’s sailing boats at St Mary’s Cathedral (26 September).

The media

Most of the morning of 3 September was spent at RTÉ for an appearance on ‘Today with Sean O’Rourke’. A Six One interview followed on 18 September and another RTÉ interview took place on 2 October. Noonan met the Independent News Group on 24 September and was interviewed by its business editor, Tom Molloy, on the following day. No contacts with other media executives are mentioned although it’s possible that they took place in off-diary meetings or by phone.

Over to Europe

The week of 8-14 September saw the Minister travel to Brussels, Luxembourg, Rotterdam, Frankfurt and Milan on official business. His European journeys began with the entry “Depart Baldonnel” at 1.30pm that Monday. Arriving in Brussels at 4pm, he was scheduled to meet Economic Affairs Commissioner Jyrki Katainen at 5pm before flying on to Luxembourg at 6.30pm.

There, he met Klaus Regling (who oversees the European Stability Mechanism) for an hour on Tuesday morning before a short flight to Rotterdam. Between 2-3pm, he was with Eurogroup President (and Dutch Finance Minister) Jeroen Dijsselbloem at The Hague. Another flight that afternoon took Noonan to Frankfurt to meet European Central Bank President Mario Draghi before returning to Baldonnel at 9pm.

Two days later, on Thursday, 11 September, he flew out again to Milan to attend an informal meeting with other EU finance ministers and their Asian counterparts. He returned on Saturday (13 September) at 4.30pm and spent Monday morning catching up on constituency business in Limerick.

Politicians

As expected, the Budget preparations involved meetings with fellow politicians. Leo Varadkar met Noonan on 24 September. The next morning, the Minister was the guest of TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor at a breakfast briefing at Fitzpatrick’s Hotel, Killiney.

A half-hour meeting with Fine Gael Senator Michael Darcy was scheduled on 4 September and again on 7 October. Darcy is Fine Gael’s finance spokesman in the Seanad.

Senator Imelda Henry (also a party colleague) was in the diary for 2 October. Henry is Fine Gael’s Seanad spokeswoman on children. The Minister met independent Senator Sean Barrett, a transport economist, on 9 October. One of the more interesting bookings on the political front was with British Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls on 8 October. Balls has taken an interest in Ireland, within the context of European monetary policy, and had visited Northern Ireland in 2012.

The Budget Day diary