On May 12, 2004, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council met with Chairman of the House of Representatives Rory O'Hanlon and Chairman of the Senate Rory Kiely at the parliament building in Dublin.

Premier Wen conveyed the greetings from Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wu Bangguo to the two Chairmen. He said that he and Prime Minister Bertie Ahern have held productive talks and both sides agreed to continue to push forward mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in such areas as politics, economy and culture. Exchanges and cooperation between the parliaments of china and Ireland are an important part of bilateral relations and the two sides should strengthen personnel exchanges in the hope that more representatives and senators will visit China and contribute to enhanced bilateral relations.

Mr. O'Hanlon, on behalf of the House of Representatives and the Senate of Ireland, expressed his welcome for Premier Wen's visit. He noted that Ireland and China very much differ in their populations and territorial areas, but the two countries also have much in common. In recent years, bilateral political, economic and trade, as well as cultural relations have been developing rapidly and the Parliament of Ireland would like to promote more development of Ireland-China relations through enhanced exchanges with China's NPC and other agencies.

Earlier in the morning, Wen also attended the breakfast meeting by Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland Mary Harney and visited Iona Technologies in Dublin. In the afternoon, Premier Wen visited the Shannon Free Trade Zone and the University of Limerick in Limerick County in the mid-west part of Ireland. Premier Wen will conclude his visit to Ireland later this day and return to China by special plane.