The accession of 10 new member-states to the European Union next year will mark a return to normality othe continent of Europe, according to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dick Roche.
He was speaking as the Dáil passed the European Communities (Amendment) Bill, which allows for enlargement under Irish law.
Mr Roche said Europe was "righting a past wrong, the artificial division of Europe, which lasted for far too long after the second World War".
Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia will join the EU during Ireland's presidency next year.
Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, said that his party was committed to European integration, but he also highlighted the "nonsense that prevents Irish troops serving in Macedonia on the doorstep of the proposed enlarged EU while we are sending troops to Liberia, a much more dangerous peacekeeping mission on a different continent".
Labour's spokesman, Mr Michael D. Higgins, said the accession countries might have emerged from a repressive atmosphere, but it was also an atmosphere in which there were guarantees on housing, pension and labour rights, and there was great concern about the new European model which offered minimal protection for workers.
