EUROPEAN governments agreed a broad package of measures to combat drug trafficking at the summit yesterday.
The Taoiseach said the Irish EU Presidency had succeeded in achieving its aim of equipping the EU with "the means to co operate effectively" against the illicit drugs trade.
The Government had managed to "fulfil completely the ambition we set for ourselves".
"This shows that the European Union is not just concerned with internal markets, goods and services, but that it has human insight with the capacity to address directly the concerns that people have," Mr Bruton said.
However, the major issues at the heart of EU discussions about drugs remain.
After yesterday's sessions, the Dutch government made it clear that the Netherlands would be sticking to the "liberal" drug laws - such as toleration of limited use of cannabis - which have brought it into disagreement with other member states.
France, in particular, believes the Dutch laws undermine other states efforts to tackle drug abuse.
The Dutch Foreign Minister, Mr Hans van Mierlo, told The Irish Times that Dutch figures for addiction and deaths related to drugs were lower than in other states.
"We can't give up that," he said. "What we must do is convince the others that when we stick to the essentials of our policy, it doesn't mean we don't want to co operate on improving measures to fight the drugs trade".
He said the EU governments had agreed a joint action to combat trafficking, and agreements were possible in other areas such as tackling the manufacture of synthetic drugs. But he questioned the value of some states seeking "harmonisation" of drug laws across the EU, as countries had different types of societies.
He added that the Netherlands would make a case for the merits of its own policies during its forth coming EU presidency, "but not to the extreme".
He believed resistance to the Dutch view was mainly at the "upper levels" of politics, while people dealing with drugs at lower levels - particularly in some parts of Germany and France, had shown "more sympathy with the Dutch approach".
The package agreed yesterday is aimed at reducing crossborder trafficking, and improving co operation between the law enforcement agencies of member states.
It provides for freer exchange of intelligence information and procedures to improve the efficiency of joint operations against drug smugglers. There are also exchange programmes for law enforcement officers.
Operational co operation is vital in areas such as "controlled deliveries", where a drugs consignment is monitored through member states rather than intercepted, so that the organisers of the shipment can be identified when it reaches its destination.
A manual of "contact points" in member states has been prepared so that law enforcement agencies in each state will know which authorities to contact in the next to ensure continuity of surveillance.
A "chemical profiling" system is to be set up so that the ingredients of manufactured drugs can be determined and compared.
Member states are also to be asked to ratify a new convention designed to speed up and simplify extradition procedures between them.
The member states have also undertaken to review their relevant national laws to facilitate concerted action on the trafficking of people and sexual exploitation of children.
There are to be further discussions today on tackling organised crime, including such measures as for cross border telephone taps.
The Irish presidency has also proposed the creation of a "judicial co operation working party to examine organised crime from a practical standpoint."
It would be made up of "public prosecutors, investigating magistrates, senior police officers and others with extensive practical experience in the fight against international organised crime."