Member-states needed to "get our act together" if the EU was to be the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010, according to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny.
He told the Dáil that it was time for each EU country to fulfil its part of the bargain to "ensure Europe attempts to match the economic strides of the USA and Asia".
Mr Kenny said that 40 per cent of the laws relating to the Lisbon Agenda, aimed at turning the EU into the most competitive and dynamic economy, had not been transposed into the domestic law of member-states.
The EU Commission "has 1,000 cases outstanding against national capitals in an effort to get them to tow the line, a line which they agreed".
He also warned that as the EU "slips down the competitiveness league, we slip down that league inside Europe.
"In 2000 Ireland ranked fourth in the world economic forum competitiveness report while this year we are 30th."
The Fine Gael leader was speaking yesterday during a wide-ranging debate on the EU Council meeting, which took place in Brussels last weekend.
He also expressed his concern that no reference was made to the issue of paedophilia, an "international scourge".
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, said the Hague Programme included the development of a Europe-wide register of sex offenders.
"It is hoped this will ensure that criminals accused of serious sexual offences will be placed on national registers" leading to the EU-wide register.
The debate was opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who told the Dáil that the president of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso, deserved the "full and early support of the European parliament".
Mr Barroso had submitted a revised list of commissioners, which had put the approval process for the new Commission back on track.
"Given the challenges facing the EU, it is vital that the new Commission should be able to start work, in full co-operation with the European Parliament, as soon as possible," he said.
Referring to the report on the challenges facing the EU, Mr Ahern said the focus "must now be on growth and employment in order to achieve the Lisbon ambitions across the range of economic, social and environmental objectives".
The leader of the Labour Party, Mr Pat Rabbitte, meanwhile, hit out at the "little if any resistance which appears to have been offered by the leaders of Europe to this further escalation of the war" in Iraq.
He said that on the day the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mr Iyad Allawi, was telling EU heads of government that the people of Falluja were "asking him for liberation, the Secretary General of the United Nations was issuing a strong warning that the proposed assault could further destabilise an already dangerously fragile situation".
He also criticised the communiqué from the leaders of the European Union after the meeting for another "understatement" in its reference to the situation facing the Palestinian people, given the condition of their leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, as a "difficult moment".
Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Sinn Féin, Dublin South Central) said it was "crucial that the Government commits to accepting the verdict of the people, even if they say no" to the new EU treaty.
