Senator Avril Doyle MEP has been appointed to the Fine Gael frontbench by the party leader, Mr John Bruton TD.

He said that as leader of the Fine Gael group in the European Parliament Ms Doyle would be an important bridge between the party in the Dail and MEPs.

"The increasingly hypocritical policies of the Government with regard to Irish commitment to enlargement of the membership and role of the European Union make it important that Fine Gael's links between the two parliaments are strong," Mr Bruton said.