Gilmore, Gates to meet in Dublin
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore is due to meet Bill Gates in Dublin this morning.
The Tánaiste is hosting a breakfast meeting for the billionaire and philanthropist, who touched down in Dublin to discuss development aid priorities for Ireland’s EU presidency.
MrGilmore said the pair will also outline negotiations on the size of the EU’s emergency aid reserve and the European development fund.
Mr Gilmore said the Irish people have a deep respect for Mr Gates’s successes in business and innovation, and his personal commitment to ending poverty, hunger and disease in the world.
“In particular I welcome the prominence he is giving to development issues,” said the foreign affairs minister.
“We are determined that these vital issues will remain central to Ireland’s foreign policy. Our own experience of famine has shaped our national identity.”
Mr Gates is said to be visiting a number of European countries ahead of a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
During his trip to Dublin he will also meet Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Government Buildings and President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin.
The computer entrepreneur established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 which has since spent €25bn on development initiatives in more than 100 programme countries.
He has previously pledged $41m to Irish aid agency Concern to help fight spiralling baby and mother death rates in developing countries.
