Taoiseach Makes First New York Visit

Taoiseach Enda Kenny unveiled a new job creation initiative during a visit to New York last week, which also included a stop at the World Trade Center site.

Under the scheme, a "finder's fee" of €3,000 will be paid for every job that results from a project.

The measure is aimed at small and medium enterprises and will be administered by the IDA.

Details are set to be announced on Tuesday this week as part of a wider jobs initiative being launched by the new government.

Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, Mr Kenny said the money would be a reward for any job that lasts two years or longer.

It was about "harnessing all of the Irish diaspora in a global sense", he said adding that ideas for job creation could come from anywhere.

"It could be a Chinese student in Cork who says, 'I have an uncle in Beijing who might manufacture here in Ireland'," Mr Kenny explained. "A mother in Ballinasloe could ring her son or daughter in Vancouver or South America or China and say, 'Look, why don't you come back to Ireland. Is there an element of what you're doing there that can be manufactured in Ireland?'"

Mr Kenny had breakfast at the stock exchange with financiers from AIG, Citibank, Gilt, Goldman Sachs, Merck, Prudential and the TIA insurance group - who employ more than 6,000 people in Ireland between them already.

The previous night he was greeted rapturously at a reception at the Irish Consulate on Park Avenue, where he told the large assembly that he was determined to make Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business.

He said the challenges facing Ireland were enormous, but they also presented opportunities.

And the following evening he attended the American Ireland Fund dinner, where he met one of his heroes Muhammed Ali.

"I love that man for his athleticism, for his prowess in boxing, for his skills, his dynamism, for his psychology, for the spirit that he brought to the world of professional boxing," said Mr Kenny.

His visit to New York began with a visit to Ground Zero, hastily added to his itinerary following the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.

The Taoiseach said he was "very mindful that this is a very poignant moment to visit this great city and a very emotional time for her citizens".