‘We want more than Putin can give us’

The tense political and military stand-off in Ukraine dominated a meeting of Europe’s centre-right parties in Dublin.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny had hoped the event would act as a showcase for post-bailout Ireland, but EU leaders such as German chancellor Angela Merkel were late in arriving for the summit after an emergency heads of governments gathering in Brussels to discuss the volatile situation in Ukraine.

The meeting of the European People’s Party also saw Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, European Commission president José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, head to Dublin.