Mr. Graham Stull:

On employment legislation, what has happened in Europe over the years is that there has been a great deal of fragmentation in the way employment legislation has been carried out. There are certain measures under way at EU level to streamline this but also to simplify the processes involved and make them more responsive to the competitive needs of today. This will vary considerably from member state to member state. It is certainly applicable in countries that have had a large degree of public sector involvement in how labour markets work. It will not apply to the more flexible economies such as Ireland’s or the UK’s.