Dublin - With Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen expected to tell a summit in Brussels later Thursday that he will hold a second referendum on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty by October 2009, Ireland's naysayers are regrouping for the second battle of Lisbon.

"We are seeking legal guarantees on the concerns that the Irish people have," Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said Thursday in an attempt to reassure a sceptical electorate.

Berlin - Ireland is planning to make a new bid in October 2009 to ratify the EU reform treaty rejected by voters last June, German government and parliamentary sources said Tuesday.

In return, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is seeking legal guarantees on Irish sovereignty over issues such as abortion, neutrality and taxation, they said. He also wants permanent representation for Ireland in every EU Commission.

The Lisbon Treaty, which aimed to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc, cannot enter force until all member states have ratified it. Apart from Ireland, the Czech Republic is the only member not to have endorsed it.

Stockholm  - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen met Friday with his Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfeldt in Stockholm, and briefed him about the Irish government's views on how to go ahead with the European Union reform treaty.

Cowen told Swedish radio news that Ireland hoped a EU summit in December could "outline the elements of a solution."

Voters in Ireland earlier this year rejected the Lisbon Treaty, which aimed to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc. It cannot enter into force until all member states have ratified it.

Sweden, which last week ratified the treaty, is set to assume the six-month rotating EU presidency in July.

Helsinki - The government of Ireland is not planning to make any decisions on a new referendum on the European Union reform treaty until a EU summit next month, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said in Helsinki late Thursday.

Cowen's remarks were made after talks with his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen, Finnish news agency STT reported.

Voters in Ireland earlier this year rejected the Lisbon Treaty, which aimed to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc. It cannot enter into force until all member states have ratified it.

Dublin - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen on Wednesday congratulated Senator Barack Obama on being elected president of the United States, saying Obama's election was "a day of hope for the world".

"Barack Obama's remarkable personal story - allied to his eloquence and his huge political talents - sends a powerful message of hope to America's friends across the world."

"There is a palpable sense of history with the election of the first African-American president.

"On this day, we are all reminded of those who struggled for civil rights in America for so many years, as well as all of those who work for justice and peace around the world today."

Dublin - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who is currently presiding over the severest economic crisis to hit Ireland in 20 years, is a man in need of a plan.

While his predecessor, the ever-popular Bertie Ahern, was the face of the Celtic Tiger boom, which took off in the mid-1990s and was over by 2007, Cowen - once Aherne's finance minister - has misfortune to be tied to, and blamed for, Ireland's sharp economic downturn

Since taking up office on May 7, Brian Cowen has sustained two crushing political blows.