Bush hoping to repair US-EU relations

US President George Bush was due to hold talks in Ireland today in a bid to repair relations between Washington and the EU, which had been damaged by differences over the war in Iraq.

Mr Bush was attending a major EU-US summit at Dromoland Castle in County Clare amid the largest security operation ever staged in the Irish state.

Diplomats say the meeting will seek to move on from the divisions over Iraq and focus on the post-Saddam future of the country, the Middle East and increasing trans-Atlantic trade.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will lead the EU delegation at the summit in his current role as President of the European Council.

Mr Ahern is also due to have a separate meeting with Mr Bush where he is likely to brief him on the political situation in Northern Ireland following his talks yesterday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

The summit is also expected to see the signing of a declaration, which will lead to the strengthening of trade links between the EU and US.

Mr Bush is being accompanied on the trip by his wife Laura and an entourage including Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice.

At least 4,000 gardaí and 2,000 troops were on duty outside the castle walls where Mr Bush spent the night in the presidential suite before his round of meetings this morning.

The US President is only expected to spend 18 hours in Ireland before jetting off to attend a UN summit in Turkey this afternoon.

Four naval ships, Air Corps planes and specialist decontamination and bomb disposal teams will be on high alert to guard against a possible chemical or biological attack throughout the visit.

Up to 700 armed US Secret Service personnel have also accompanied Mr Bush on the trip, while riot police and water cannons are on standby to deal with any trouble from protesters.

The Dromoland Summit is the first to take place between the US and the enlarged European Union of 25 Member States and the first since the conclusion of negotiations on the EU Constitutional Treaty.

Mr Bush is expected to leave Ireland at 2.30pm and fly straight into another major security operation.

More than 23,000 police will be on duty during the Nato summit in Istanbul, which Mr Blair and French President Jacques Chirac – among others – are to attend.

Turkish police sealed off streets, searched cars and detonated suspicious packages yesterday as part of a massive security sweep on the eve of the summit and a day after twin bombings killed four people in two cities.

Around the convention centre in Istanbul where the summit begins on Monday, police installed heavy, dark-blue steel barricades.

Officers also searched cars in nearby streets, while helicopters flew over an Ottoman palace where a dinner for Nato leaders will be held.

On Thursday, four people were killed and 17 injured in the blasts at the The Ankara hotel where Mr Bush is expected to stay and on an Istanbul bus.

Militant leftists appeared to be behind the bombings, authorities said.

The security situation in Istanbul has been of concern since last November, when four suicide truck bombings, blamed on groups linked to al Qaida, killed more than 60 people.

Scores of people believed to be linked to radical groups have been detained in security sweeps in recent weeks.