Opposition demands Taoiseach reveal contents of Lisbon deal

FINE Gael and Labour leaders have demanded the Taoiseach tell them the elements of a deal surrounding the Lisbon treaty that is to be discussed at an EU summit in Brussels next week.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen is on a whistle-stop tour of some of EU capitals consulting their prime ministers about the deal to which Ireland wants them to agree.

He met the German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin last night after talks with the Luxembourg prime minister Jean Claude Junker. He is to meet Britain’s Gordon Brown today and meet French president Nicholas Sarkozy, who will chair the summit, next Thursday.