The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has warned that the ongoing trade disputes between the EU and the US are a serious threat to Irish industry and farmers.

He called yesterday on the President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, to transform the nature of the relationship between the EU and US by investing in a new, intensified dialogue to break down the barriers of mistrust and hostility whose outward manifestation had been seen in the Ryder Cup only last week.

Mr Prodi and President Clinton should work together ahead of the opening of the next round of world trade talks in November to give a clear signal that they intended to work together "in a common democratic space across the Atlantic" towards a common agenda, even though there were real differences.

Mr Bruton was in Brussels to meet Mr Prodi, the Irish Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, and for meetings of the European People's Party. He told Mr Byrne he supported the idea of creating an independent EU food safety agency in preference to one reporting directly to the Commission.

Mr Bruton said such an agency could provide a rapid alert system for health scares, bring together the work of scientific committees on food safety, and monitor GM trials.

In his discussions with Mr Prodi, Mr Bruton said Ireland was particularly vulnerable to the decisions taken in boardrooms in New Jersey or a loss of confidence in US markets.

On issues like genetically modified organisms and hormones in beef, there was a need to engage not just in technical trade discussions but at a deeper, ethical and philosophical level. He favoured the idea of a global scientific council.

The EU, he said, had to learn the lessons of Irish diplomacy in ensuring that its message was heard not just by the president and his administration, but by Congress.

Mr Bruton said he shared Mr Prodi's ambitions to see a radical step forward in integration to pave the way for enlargement. "It will inevitably mean a diminution in the authority of national governments, but I believe that is the way to go," Mr Bruton said.

He attacked Fianna Fail over its reluctance "to fulfil the commitment of Lemass that if Europe needed to be defended, Ireland would be willing to defend what it had helped to create".

He said the Government appeared willing to accept the money from Europe but not the responsibility for its defence.