Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I am aware of the findings of Wim Kok's report. The Deputy will not be surprised to hear that the issue frequently features at European Council meetings. The European partners have directed much attention to trying to achieve the Lisbon targets and those of the Barcelona agreement in that regard.

The partnership process here is considerably more well developed than at European level, but I take the Deputy's point that there is a strong case for better involvement of the social partners at European level. We try to encourage them to use our experience to advantage at that level. With regard to the targets, Ireland has, undoubtedly, set about addressing them as discussed in the previous question. On the question of social cohesion, nobody can argue otherwise than that the social partners have a direct and strong involvement in ensuring we meet the targets in that regard.

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