The Irish Exporters' Association (IEA) has called on the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, to intervene with her French counterpart on the road haulage strike threatened to begin in France on Sunday night. The strike by the French Transport Union could have a serious effect on the traffic of Irish exports to France which, at £3 billion per annum, accounts for almost 10 per cent of all exports, the IEA chief executive, Mr Colum MacDonnell, said.

"Regardless of the merits or demerits of the internal dispute there is absolutely no case for disrupting transit traffic," he said.