Ireland has its highest ever profile at Davos, with the Taoiseach giving a special address today to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, who is at the meeting for the second year in succession, took part yesterday in a discussion on the relationship between regulation and innovation.

The President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, is participating in a number of events, most of them about the EU and transatlantic relations. Four Northern politicians - the DUP's Mr Gregory Campbell, the SDLP's Mr Mark Durkan, the PUP's Mr David Ervine and Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness - took part in a debate about the peace process.

Business figures include Mr Peter Sutherland, a member of the forum's foundation board, who will speak tomorrow about the case for globalisation. AIB chairman Mr Dermot Gleeson and Island Capital's Mr Denis O'Brien are also in Davos.

Other Irish business figures include Unilever's Mr Niall Fitzgerald, ChevronTexaco's Mr David O'Reilly and Euromoney's Mr Padraic Fallon. Irish figures from outside business include the former president, Mrs Mary Robinson, the coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin and Concern's Mr Tom Arnold.