Bruton begins trade visit to Germany

Minister for Jobs, Richard Bruton, is this morning departing on a four-day, four-city trade, investment and tourism mission to Germany.

The trip is part of the Government's Ministerial-led St Patrick's Day programme, which will see the Taoiseach and 19 Ministers visit 21 countries to take part in 30 high-level political meetings and over 150 business events involving hundreds of companies.

Germany is the largest economy in Europe and a key trading partner with Ireland.

It is also the world's third-largest source of tourists to Ireland, with over 400,000 German tourists visiting Ireland last year.