Strong support is needed for our domestic base through what looks set to be tricky times — a challenge that could be as great as that of 2011, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

EU AMBASSADORS have given the wording of the Irish guarantees the thumbs up at a special meeting in Brussels on a day when it emerged that British diplomats have asked for some changes to the text.

THE provision in the Lisbon Treaty to have commissioners from just two-thirds of member states could affect the democratic legitimacy of the European Union, according to commission vice-president Margot Wallstrom.