Under European influence, Irish social policy had changed more over the past 25 years than at any time in its history, a leading trade unionist told the Forum on Europe in Dublin Castle yesterday.
Mr Peter Cassells, former ICTU general secretary who now chairs the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, said there had been a particular impact on the rights of women, part-time workers and working conditions generally.
"Most of these changes have been driven by developments at European level, which placed women's equality firmly on the agenda, sought to harmonise working conditions and tries to ensure convergence of living standards through the EU.
"Europe has also had a major influence on the way we do things through the development of social partnership, our approach to social exclusion and the way we develop economic and social policy," Mr Cassells said.
The European Commissioner for the Environment, Ms Margot Wallstr÷m, was unable to attend the forum due to illness, and her chef de cabinet, Mr Rolf Annenberg, spoke in her place. He highlighted what he said were the benefits of EU co-operation on environmental issues.
"The quality of air in our cities is improving," he said. "This is borne out by the experience of Ireland. According to the Irish Environmental Protection Agency, Dublin's smog problem has been eliminated. Compliance with EU legislation has strongly contributed to this success."
While rivers in EU member-states were generally much cleaner, there was more to be done in Ireland before the benefits of co-ordinated action became evident. "Linked in part to agricultural pollution, the trend in river water quality in Ireland is less positive than that for air quality," Mr Annenberg said. Responding to questions from several delegates about the European Commission's attitude to the Sellafield nuclear power installation, Mr Annenberg said there was no scientific evidence that the existing plant posed an unacceptable risk to health. On the additional MOX plant he said: "Ireland should voice its concerns to the Community institutions."