EU REACTION: The Irish EU presidency has called on all member-states of the union to observe three minutes' silence at 11 a.m. (noon Spanish time) on Monday to commemorate the victims of the Madrid bombings.
In addition to proposing the three minutes' silence, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has said that work on the EU Action Plan on Terrorism should be speeded up.
The gesture of the three minutes' silence has been proposed with the approval of the Spanish government. Announcing it yesterday, the Taoiseach said that he was asking the people of Ireland to observe the commemorative silence on Monday, and he hoped that it would be observed across the EU.
"It will demonstrate our collective sense of solidarity with Spain and its people and our steadfast determination to fight the scourge of terrorism, which threatens all of our basic freedoms."
Earlier, the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, had called for such a gesture, saying that the terrorist attacks on innocent people in Madrid was of concern to "all the citizens of the European Union".
Meanwhile, Mr Ahern said that the Government's national security committee was examining the implications of the Madrid bombings for the conduct of the remainder of Ireland's EU presidency.
He pointed out that all European Council meetings were now held in Brussels rather than in the state holding the EU presidency. However, a number of high-profile meetings would be taking place here, such as the May 1st ceremony to mark the enlargement of the EU and the EU/US summit, which is to be attended by President Bush in June.
The national security committee, chaired by the secretary-general to the Government, Mr Dermot McCarthy, would be meeting again next week and was in regular contact with the Garda Síochána on these issues, Mr Ahern said.