Euro continues to climb

The euro is still climbing on foreign exchanges. It is now worth one dollar, one cent and over sixty four pence sterling.

However, the currency’s revival is causing concern amongst Irish exporters, whose products are now dearer to buy in Britain and America.

Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Small and Medium Enterprises Association, says that this development coupled with wage inflation, is damaging our competitiveness.

"We're looking at a loss in competitiveness there, because of our wage inflation of somewhere between 30 and 35%," he said.

"That is unsustainable over a long period obviously, and if you add that to the weakening dollar, that would cause concern for small exporting companies who are already facing very stiff competition."