CORRESPONDENCE GIVES INSIGHT INTO GOVERNMENT’S RELATIONSHIP WITH FACEBOOK
From: Mark Zuckerberg Date: 2 Nov 2017 at 07.07 GMT To: Leo Varadkar
Dear Taoiseach, Thank you for visiting our campus during your trip to Silicon Valley. It was great meeting you.
We’re excited about our Oculus research office in Cork and that our data center in Clonee will begin serving traffic later this year. Facebook Ireland is an important part of our global community, and we are looking forward to growing our presence in your country.
I was happy to hear that you chose our Dublin office to launch the Irish State paternity benefit program earlier this year. We are proud of our parental leave program and we appreciate the recognition.
I look forward to seeing you again.
Mark
Office of the Taoiseach 16 Nov 2017
Dear Mark, I would like to thank you and the members of your executive team for hosting my colleagues and I during my recent visit to Silicon Valley. I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet you all, and I greatly enjoyed our conversation.
Ireland is, and will remain, a leading global location for innovative companies like Facebook. We very much value the continued investment and contribution Facebook has made in Ireland and we look forward to continuing our relationship long into the future...
...I wish you every success in the future and look forward to an opportunity to meet again. Yours sincerely, Leo Varadkar
From: Sheryl Sandberg Date: 26 Jan 2018 18.37 To: Leo Varadkar
Taoiseach, It was wonderful to meet you in Davos — thank you for making the time during such a busy week.
We all continue to be grateful for the work your government does to make Ireland a great place for our European headquarters. We will continue to invest in Dublin and look forward to growing our office over the coming year... Wishing you safe travels home. My very best, Sheryl
From: Leo Varadkar Date: 30 Jan 2018, 12.52 PM To: Sheryl Sandberg
Dear Sheryl, Was good to make your acquaintance and to meet with you at the Gates dinner and also more formally at the Congress Centre.
I found our conversation on interesting... Let’s stay on touch as matters evolve... Best regards, Leo Varadkar
From: Niamh Sweeney Date: 22 Mar 2018. 10.07 To: Leo Varadkar’s private secretary
Dear Nick, ... I know there is a lot going on in Brussels today but I would be grateful if you could bring this note to the Taoiseach’s attention...
...I hope he will have seen some coverage of our CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s interview on CNN last night where he stated that what happened was a major breach of trust and apologised for it...
From: Niamh Sweeney Date: 4 Apr 2018. 21.01 To: Leo Varadkar
Dear Taoiseach, Further to the information I shared with you and your team last month, I wanted to follow up with some additional information regarding Cambridge Analytica...
... We know there’s a lot of work to do here, and that this is just the beginning...
... We would welcome your feedback on the steps we’ve announced so far and any suggestions you have on what more we should be doing.
Sincerely, Niamh