Marginal Debate Enlivens Bush Visit

As always, when there's a high level meeting between heads of state, it is in the margins that real business is done.

While UK PM Gordon Brown used yesterday's brief stop in Belfast to 'greet' George Bush to pledge £6m to "secure the future of Irish language broadcasting in Northern Ireland" much to the pleasure of Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams, the Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen also had something to say.

Mr Cowen was at pains to thank his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, for offering support on Monday following Ireland's decision to reject a European Union treaty - a vote that embarrassed the Irish government and plunged the 27-nation European union into a diplomatic crisis.

Both leaders, Cowen and Brown discussed the political fallout from last week's referendum after each met U.S. President George W. Bush, who had brought all the leaders together as he was paying a whirlwind visit to Belfast.

Brian Cowen said Brown's assurances to him were "measured and constructive, and recognise the need for the EU member states to work together calmly and constructively to find a way to deal with the undoubted difficulties which arise from the referendum result".

They discussed how last Thursday's vote in the Republic of Ireland produced a 53.4% 'No' vote to the Lisbon Treaty, which EU negotiators spent years developing in the wake of the failure of the EU's proposed new constitution.

The latest 'bad news' came after both French and Dutch voters torpedoed the constitution in their own 2005 referendums, with this time round, only Ireland putting the Lisbon Treaty to a popular vote.

Cowen said he planned to begin repairing the damage with other EU leaders at a Brussels summit at a major meeting this Thursday - his first such EU session since being elected Taoiseach.

He said that while he understood "the deep disappointment among other EU leaders, it would be important for all the member states to work together in finding an acceptable path forward."

(BMcC)