Michael Noonan attempts to convince US firms to stay here

Finance Minister Michael Noonan will meet with senior International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials in California today to convince them to encourage US companies to continue investing in Ireland.

Mr Noonan will hold the meetings after talks with US treasury secretary Jacob Lew in Washington DC yesterday on Ireland’s tax system and he prepares to hold crunch negotiations directly with Irish-based multi-nationals under pressure to return jobs to the US.

The meetings are part of a week-long US business visit which is officially about giving Mr Noonan an update briefing on the US, IMF and World Bank concerns over the Brexit fallout after he was unable to attend a previous meeting due to a scheduling clash with the Irish budget.