Limerick TD Patrick O’Donovan is to attend a conference organised by the political party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. He has been selected by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to attend the conference which is being hosted by the sister party of Fine Gael in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union, CDU. Patrick O’Donovan is the Chairman of the Fine Gael committee on Public Expenditure and Reform and is a member of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee
“I was delighted to be asked by the Taoiseach’s office to be the only representative from Ireland to attend this conference which is called after Konrad Adenauer, who was the first Chancellor of West Germany after the Second World War and founder of Chancellor Merkel’s Party, CDU. I understand that delegates will be in attendance from across the world and there is a very wide agenda to be considered at it including foreign and domestic political issues.”
Patrick O’Donovan said that he hoped to use the opportunity given to him to attend the conference to make contact with German and other EU representatives in particular. “It’s clear over the last number of years that as we continue our road to economic recovery that we need to constantly engage with other political representatives. I will be using this conference to make contact with backbench members of the German Parliament and to build relationships with them as I have done as a member of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly.”