EU leaders have agreed to provide the legal guarantees being sought by the Irish Government ahead of a planned re-run of the Lisbon Treaty referendum later this year.

The Government has been seeking guarantees on abortion, neutrality and taxation in an effort to address some of the reasons why Irish voters rejected the treaty last year.

The British Government is understood to have raised concerns about the mechanisms for providing these guarantees, but the problems were ironed out during a meeting this morning between the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

A second referendum is now likely to take place in late September or early October.

The legal guarantees being provided to the Irish Government do not change the Lisbon Treaty, but will be incorporated in the next treaty agreed between EU leaders, which will probably be a document to approve Croatia's membership.