THE Tanaiste has said he is hopeful the three man chairmanship of the Northern talks will be fully operational by the time the talks adjourn for the summer holidays.
Mr Spring was speaking in Paris after meeting the French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette. He stressed it was "very much a team chairmanship".
Mr Spring was meeting Mr de Charette during his round of talks with EU foreign ministers before Ireland takes over the presidency next Monday. He said there was a need for "a sense of reinvigoration" in the EU after the BSE deadlock.
"People want to see us getting an effective and efficient presidency and we're going to do that. It's a great national challenge for a small member state.
On initiatives to tackle unemployment, the Tanaiste said there was a determination that we need action on the ground" after the decisions taken at the Essen and Madrid summits.
He suggested that there would be an early visit by the EU foreign ministers' "troika" to the Middle East following the election of Mr Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
Mr de Charette said the Irish presidency was taking place at "a strategic moment" for the EU. We are counting a tot on the impetus Ireland will give during the six months of her presidency," he said, singling out the need for movement on EMU and by the IGC as key issues.
The French government wanted the IGC to finish in the spring of 1997 to prepare for EU enlargement. He hoped the Irish presidency could put a draft treaty on the table before next December's council meeting.
Meanwhile at a Rome meeting yesterday, the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, formally handed over the EU baton to Mr Spring, writes Paddy Agnew. Mr Spring said Ireland approached its presidency with confidence now that the mad cow crisis had been defused.