He said the changes will liberalise access to £78bn of charitable assets.
In return, these countries are expected gradually to liberalise access for EU imports.
It has also resulted in ever-widening access to naloxone as more police forces carry it and states liberalise access by making it available without a prescription.
Changes to restrict or liberalise access to abortion could come via amendments to the human tissue and embryology bill, which is due to come before parliament within weeks.
Many routes have been liberalised and access to airports opened up.
Peter Mandelson, the European Union's trade commissioner, told his Chinese counterpart at talks in Brussels to liberalise market access and to crack down on counterfeiting.
By contrast, the US, after the so-called Doha development round in 2001 aimed to liberalise trade and increase access to western markets, raised farm subsidies to its own farmers by 80%, thus massively cutting world prices and bankrupting tens of millions of farmers in the poor world.
If we really want to help poor people and the environment, vastly more important than buying doubtfully green products in the supermarket is to end Europe's common agricultural policy, along with US farm protectionism, and drastically liberalise the poor world's access to our markets.
And, even then, there were still Fine Gael deputies and senators who played a prominent role in resisting the introduction of divorce, in pushing for the foetus to become a full Irish citizen via the 1983 pro-life amendment campaign and in trying to stop the liberalising of laws on homosexuality and access to condoms.
Although attitudes towards marijuana are liberalising and women are gaining more access, structural issues surrounding cannabis – how we legislate it and who our legislation affects – show wider issues with the drug.
