The French president, Mr Jacques Chirac, said on a brief visit to Dublin yesterday as part of his country's European presidency, that he would have no hesitation eating Irish beef.
He regretted that he was not staying long enough to have it for dinner with the Taoiseach.
He also indicated his support for efforts to resolve the current difficulties over Irish beef exports to France and elsewhere. "There will be support of the presidency to the Taoiseach and to Irish farmers."
At a joint news conference with the Taoiseach at Government Buildings after their meeting, Mr Chirac said he would leave Dublin with a better understanding of the "political problems" faced by the Irish Government.
He understood how the makeup of the European Commission was a domestic political issue in Ireland and thanked the Taoi seach for a "very clear and very frank" discussion of the situation.
Asked how the reweighting of votes would work if Ireland and the other smaller member-states kept their commissioner and the larger countries like France gave up the right to a second nominee, Mr Chirac said nothing was ever "totally black or totally white" in the European Union. It was a community of nations, each was obliged to get on with the other partners. On what he described as the "very sensitive" issues such as re-weighting and the make-up of the Commission, the president said that, in the negotiations at Nice, "I am sure that we will all wait until the 11th hour."
Pressed for his attitude to the Irish campaign to retain its commissioner, he said that, as president of the European Council, it was not his role to criticise or support the position of individual member-states but to try to secure a compromise.
Mr Chirac was visiting Dublin as part of an EU presidency tour of capital cities in advance of the European Council at Nice, which begins on December 7th.
He was accompanied by his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Hubert Vedrine, and Mr Javier Solana, secretary general of the European Council and EU high representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. Welcoming the president and his entourage, the Taoiseach said their meeting had been an "excellent" one.
It had concentrated mainly on the Nice Summit but had also dealt with the latest developments in connection with BSE and the need to protect consumers; as well as the recent Capabilities Conference on the Rapid Reaction Force.
Indicating a conciliatory approach, the Taoiseach said: "Ireland has always looked forward to co-operating with president Chirac and working with him." Mr Ahern said he had outlined Ireland's concerns about the Commission. On the re-weighting of votes, it was Ireland's intention to "move substantively" so that progress could be made. In the area of flexibility or enhanced co-operation, his colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen would continue to work to resolve the issues.