Cowen wants EU guarantees.

Byline: AINE HEGARTY

THE Taoiseach yesterday pleaded with EU leaders to give him a cast-iron assurance Ireland's legal guarantees in the Lisbon Treaty will be honoured.

Brian Cowen sent a letter to Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown in which he insisted these transparent pledges were needed before he could ask Irish people to vote on it again.

The letter said: "I need to be able to come out of our meeting and state, without fear of contradiction, that the legal guarantees contained in the decision, will, in time, acquire full Treaty status by way of a protocol."

CAPTION(S):

IT'S THIS WAY Mr Cowen with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels yesterday