FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan, who underwent eye surgery last month, will be left holding the purse strings on St Patrick’s Day as the Limerick Fine Gael TD’s ministerial colleagues take part in over 100 business events and 100 high-level political meetings in 27 countries. The Government’s St Patrick’s Day ‘Promote Ireland’ programme of international activity will see the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and 27 Ministers globetrotting to far-flung destinations including USA, South Korea, Australia, Ethiopia, Russia, China, Canada, Brazil, France, India, Sweden and Slovakia. Announcing the St Patrick’s Day programme, Minister Charlie Flanagan commented, “Last year’s programme reached audiences of over 353,000 directly and 80 million through media coverage, and assisted in securing €5 million in new business for Irish exporters.”
