The Taoiseach said the Government would continue to oppose the abolition of duty-free goods which is scheduled for the end 1999. Mr Ahern said he had raised the matter at last week's EU employment summit in Luxembourg. "In my intervention I pointed out that while the conclusions proposed to be adopted by the council required that all community policies should be harnessed in support of European employment, abolition of duty-free trade would in my view have an adverse effect on employment," he added.

"My intervention laid down a marker as to the importance of the issue for Ireland, and the Irish Government will continue to press the case on this issue."

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said if the decision was implemented it could cost up to 2,000 jobs in Ireland. Mr Ahern said the campaign to prevent it would go on.