EU leaders back Irish deal

Ireland won key assurances from European Union states today to allow it to stage a second referendum next year on the Lisbon reform treaty, rejected by its voters in June, Poland's foreign minister said.

"The European Council has completed work on issues related to the Lisbon treaty," Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters at a summit in Brussels. The deal was confirmed separately by two other diplomats at the meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

The decision gives Ireland the sought-after concession of retaining a permanent EU Commissioner, and gives assurances in the sensitive areas of military neutrality, taxation policy and workers' rights.

The Lisbon Treaty -- successor to the defunct EU constitution -- aims to streamline EU decision-making and give the bloc more weight in the world by creating a long-term president figure and its own foreign policy supremo.

The concessions should enable Dublin to hold another plebiscite by November next year aimed at ratifying the treaty -- which needs the green light from all member states before it can take effect.

Treaty supporters say Brussels decision-making has been held up since the Irish "No" vote and argue the Lisbon Treaty would have helped the 27-nation bloc deal more effectively with the worst financial crisis in 80 years.

Aside from Ireland, only the Czech Republic and Poland have yet to ratify it. Prague is set to do so by early next year, and Poland's president has said he will back the treaty when the Irish problem was solved.