European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has today urged all political leaders in Northern Ireland to come to an agreement on power sharing.

The Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern who is currently meeting with Mr Barroso, confirmed that he is to invite the leaders of the four main political parties to Brussels to embark in talks as an attempt to reach an agreement to bring to an end the current political deadlock.

Commenting on this, Dermot Ahern said that both the British and Irish governments have both welcomed Mr Barroso's intervention.

It is understood that the European Commission's invite came after a meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who requested that they meet with Northern Ireland's politicians.

It is understood that the EU could help by providing support for an all-party power-sharing executive.

Sinn Fein MEP Bairbre de Brún today welcomed the involvement of the EU Commission President.

She said: "The European Union has played an important role encouraging the development of the peace process in Ireland over the past decade and more. I am

encouraged that the European Commission president José Manuel Barroso plans

to build upon this by issuing invitations to the four parties which would make up any new Executive.

“Sinn Féin are anxious to see the job of putting together an acceptable programme for government for the incoming Executive completed quickly. We are also keen for a proper funding package to be put in place to allow any new executive to adequately tackle the important issues which are facing communities at this time and we have been working at European level on this for some time including our campaign to secure Peace III funding."

Ms de Brún added: "Sinn Féin look forward to travelling to Brussels to meet with President Barroso and his team to discuss how best the EU can best continue to support the political process as we seek to put the power sharing and all-Ireland institutions back in place by March 26th."

(EF)