Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has held wide ranging discussions with the US secretary of state John Kerry at Shannon Airport.
Mr Kerry stopped over at Shannon after his first official trip overseas which, over 10 days, took in Europe, the Middle East and Russia.
Mr Kerry met Mr Gilmore in Rome last week during a meeting with EU foreign ministers and they arranged to meet at Shannon airport yesterday on his return journey to the US.
A spokeswoman for the Tánaiste said it was a private rather than a formal bilateral meeting, but a number of important issues had been discussed.
The Irish economy featured in the talks as well as the EU budget for the coming years. The prospect of agreement between the EU and the US in the current talks on a free trade agreement were also discussed, according to the spokeswoman. US immigration reform including the position of the undocumented Irish was also raised.
The two will meet again in Washington over the St Patrick’s Day period.
Valuable opportunity
The spokeswoman said the Tánaiste had found the meeting a valuable opportunity to establish a rapport with Mr Kerry and form a one-to-one relationship.
Mr Kerry’s aircraft arrived at Shannon at about 3pm for the scheduled but unpublicised technical stop. Shannon chairwoman Rose Hynes and airport director Mary Considine welcomed him in the VIP suite at the airport.
Mr Kerry spent almost two hours there and the meeting with Mr Gilmore lasted for an hour.
