On September 3, Premier Zhu Rongji, who is paying a formal visit to Ireland, met with Irish President Mary McAleese at the Presidential Palace. The two sides had friendly talks. Both believed that the two countries should have more contacts and exchanges to enhance mutual understanding.

Zhu conveyed the warm greetings from President Jiang Zemin to President McAleese. McAleese expressed thanks and asked Zhu to convey her warm greetings to Jiang. She extended, on behalf of the Irish people, a warm welcome to Zhu for his formal visit. She said that both Ireland and China are in an important stage of development, and Premier Zhu's current visit will contribute to strengthening bilateral cooperation and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries. She recalled her visit to China's Shenzhen University in 1997, saying she was deeply impressed by the Chinese people's hospitality. She believed Premier Zhu would have the same impression through his current visit and bring the friendly feelings of the Irish people towards China to the Chinese people.

Zhu, on behalf of President Jiang, invited the Irish president to visit China at her convenience and McAleese said she is willing to pay a visit as early as possible. During the meeting, Zhu also briefed her on the developments in Tibet and welcomed her to visit there.

On the same day, Premier Zhu also met separately with Seamus Pattison, Speaker of Irish House of Representatives, and Senate Speaker Brian Mullooly. He conveyed to them the cordial greetings from Chairman Li Peng of the National People’s Congress. They also asked Zhu to convey their greetings to Chairman Li.

Zhu said both the Irish House of Representatives and the Senate have frequent contacts with China's NPC, with Speaker Pattison paying numerous visits to China. The exchanges of visits between the parliaments of both countries have deepened the peoples’ friendship and contributed to the development of bilateral ties. The Chinese premier hoped both sides will make joint efforts to increase contacts and push forward their cooperation in such areas as politics, trade, science, technology, culture and education.

The two speakers believed that Premier Zhu's current visit has achieved great success, saying Zhu's meeting with President McAleese and his talks with the Irish Prime Minister were fruitful. The Chinese Premier's visit has made even closer the links between the two countries and will further promote the all-dimensional development of bilateral ties.