The Jobs Minister begins a five-day trade mission to the United States today.

The trip includes a number of meetings and events with potential investment companies.

Minister Richard Bruton will be accompanied by IDA Chief Executive Martin Shanahan on the investment mission to Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York, which involves a total of 27 meetings and events.

These include 17 one-on-one meetings with target and client companies considering new job-creation projects in Ireland. The 17 companies are mainly in the financial services, technology and healthcare sectors.

This will be the first Ministerial investment mission since the changes to corporation tax announced in this month’s Budget. A spokesperson for the Government says it forms part of a programme of engagement by the Government with multinational companies on corporation tax issues.

Minister Richard Bruton will lead a further IDA Ireland investment mission to the West Coast and Mid West in mid-November as part of this programme.

Speaking about the current trade mission, Minister Bruton said he is "confident that the discussions held this week will lead to jobs being created in the near future in cities and towns right across the country."