Brian Cowen addresses Irish parliament over EU bailout

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen has addressed his country's parliament ahead of a meeting with EU finance ministers to discuss a possible bailout.

He told ministers his country was working with European partners to deal with the debt issue and that these discussions had been taking place for some time.

The prime minister also explained that Ireland is not in a unique situation in Europe and that moves taken so far to stabilise the economy had been Ireland's best interests.