US: The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, is to meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Washington on Monday next for discussions on Iraq and Northern Ireland, a spokesman for the Irish embassy in Washington said yesterday.
The meeting comes at a time when the Bush administration is initiating a series of diplomatic and military contacts in Europe and the Middle East in preparation for a possible war with Iraq.
Mr Cowen and Mr Powell last held a bilateral meeting in September 2001, two weeks after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The Government then gave verbal and diplomatic support to Washington in its war against al-Qaeda and overflight and landing facilities to US military aircraft at Shannon airport.
The agenda for next week's meeting could include Ireland's role in any military assault against Iraq, both at the UN and on the ground.
An invasion of Iraq would involve the transportation of up to 250,000 US troops to the Gulf region, and US military transport planes are already using Shannon airport as a stop-over on the way to Middle East.
Ireland has insisted that any decision on war against Iraq over arms inspections should be taken at the UN Security Council and Mr Cowen is likely to put this to Mr Powell.
In the Dáil on November 6th Mr Cowen reiterated Irish concern for the centrality of the UN to the process.
Washington is also pressing European countries to accept Turkey into the EU as part of its efforts to ease Turkish concerns about helping any war effort.
Critics of the use of Shannon for US troop movements, such as Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, have said that it is not compatible with Irish neutrality.
Mr Richard Haass, the US special envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process, will also attend the meeting which comes at a time when the United States' role could prove important to efforts to rescue the Good Friday Agreement.