German premier Angela Merkel and her French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy are willing to come to Ireland next year to boost the Government's Lisbon Treaty referendum campaign, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said this evening.
Ireland is the only country due to hold a referendum next year to ratify the treaty signed by EU leaders in Lisbon yesterday.
And after the EU constitution was rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005, EU leaders are ready to pull out all the stops to get the Lisbon Treaty accepted ratified.
They insist that the administrative requirements of the expanded 27-nation Union means new rules for vote-weighting, in particular, are essential.
"I have invited Angela Merkel and she said today she will attend. President Sarkozy also already told me he will come to help us out," Mr Ahern told reporters at a summit in Brussels.
Irish officials added that EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and other members of the European Commission would also be available ahead of the vote, due to take place in the first half of next year.
Mr Ahern expressed concerns over France's veteran far-right activist Jean-Marie Le Pen and his allies who said they will go to Ireland next year to help "No" campaigners.
"They will be coming, we know that and of course it is a concern. More importantly for us is the money that they may also bring with them as well," Mr Ahern said in reference to campaign funding.
"We on our side will of course be governed by rules on transparency, but they may not play by the same rules."
The EU's other 26 nations are due to ratify the Lisbon Treaty - currently called the Reform Treaty - through their parliaments.