I was interested in the President's remarks on the Lisbon agenda and Ireland's role in bringing the interests of the EU and the US together. I do not believe in the new European chauvinistic view of the US, we must repair that relationship because it is in all of our interests economically and in pursuit of greater democracy and justice in the world. Whatever the view of the current US presidency, we must repair that relationship and we are ideally located as a small country with great cultural and economic connections with Europe and the US to bring that about during the course of our EU Presidency.