Given that there are 18 million people unemployed in the Community and that it cannot compete in terms of jobs with the Japanese, Americans or the high performing Asian economies, will the Taoiseach accept that the European market is over-regulated? Does he support policies that would lead to less regulation in the European economy?

It is clear from our performance that we are competitive. If we had not been competitive in recent years our employment position would be much more serious — in saying that I am not under-estimating the significance of the size of our unemployment figures. During a recessionary period, when markets were shrinking, Irish exporters gained a bigger share of those markets, that can only come about by being competitive in the marketplace. There are many areas in which the European Union must make progress in becoming more competitive. The fact that it became uncompetitive was one of the basic driving forces behind setting up the Single European Market. Europe as a unit was losing its market share in world trade terms to the United States and Japan and that is why the Single Market had to be considered. Many of the restrictions and protections introduced in various national economies had to be removed, and others will have to be removed, to make Europe more competitive.