Brian stops NY traffic for Lisbon snarl-up

FIRST he held up Europe. Now he’s holding up New York. Or a section of it, at any rate.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s first overseas trip was to Brussels to explain to his fellow EU leaders how the Government had lost a referendum and held up the ratification of the Lisbon treaty.

Mr Cowen is in the midst of his first trip as Taoiseach to the US, but the Lisbon issue refuses to go away.