WHILE doing nothing to upset the Tory Euro-sceptics, Mr Major also did nothing to upset his European partners. Despite the realities, the British Prime Minister did not look like someone under great pressure on Europe from within his own party, or relatively isolated among his European partners.
There was no big disagreement - indeed the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, singled out Mr Major's contribution on the key issue of "flexibility" as one of the most important and constructive of the day.
Decisions that could cause a revolt in his party - on abolishing the national veto on certain issues or giving the EU greater say in defence issues for example have all been postponed until June in Amsterdam. A decision on whether to join the single currency will not be needed until early 1998.
Mr Major looked pleased and relaxed at his final press conference, as well he might. He sat beside Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, and it was difficult to imagine that these two are supposed to be close to war on Europe. They spoke fondly of their trip to Kitty O'Shea's pub the previous evening for a couple of pints and generally looked as if they they were having a good time.
Meanwhile, the British Labour leader, Mr Tony Blair, was the ghost at the feast. He was in Dublin on Thursday, where he met senior Dutch politicians. The Dutch take over the presidency in January with the unenviable task of finishing the Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) negotiations. They will have been keen to determine Mr Blair's intentions should be become British prime minister before the Amsterdam summit.
Mr Major used the platform provided by Dublin for domestic political purposes. He said the EU was approaching "a moment of truth on the nature of Europe". In the forthcoming election campaign, Mr Major is expected to suggest that only the Tories can be trusted not to sell out British interests to the Euro-federalists.
Mr Blair moved at the weekend to ensure he is not portrayed as soft on Europe. "All this stuff that Labour will sell the pass is typical Tory propaganda," he told The Observer, Labour would not give up the British veto on issues such as taxation, social security, defence and other issues, he said.
Mr Major protested over the weekend that Britain was always wrongly portrayed as an outsider at summits. "I have now attended around about 15 or 16 of these summits," he said, "and almost invariably on these occasions the United Kingdom is portrayed as if it was a minority of one or one of a very small minority. It almost seems to have been the script since the dawn of time."
The script, he insisted, was wrong. He told his fellow heads of state and government on Friday that Britain simply had a different - equally legitimate - vision of Europe. As he told his press conference, he was opposed to "anintegrationist, centralist Europe" but favoured a Europe where nation states would co-operate increasingly on a broad range of issues without creating a large centralised political structure.
Mr Bruton said Mr Major s contribution at the summit was "very effective". What he had to say about the issue of flexibility - a proposed mechanism allowing some EU states to proceed with certain projects without others - "went right to the heart of the issues that we have got to consider in the next six months".
Mr Major had asked what type of flexibility would be put in place, saying that the wrong formula could severely damage the EU. The wrong type would be one that created a multispeed Europe, with a hard core of nations moving ahead with integration, leaving others behind.
The alternative, which he favoured, was one where member states could choose to participate in EU projects on a case by case basis, without allowing the development of two or more distinct groups.
He supported the agreement which was reached on the so-called "stability pact", which outlines the circumstances in which fines will be levied on states adopting the euro if they run high budget deficits. He emphasised that these regulations "involve no new policy obligations on the UK", as it is not in the single currency.
He twice good-humouredly declined to speculate as to whether Britain would be in the first group of states to adopt the single currency. "We will wait and see what the circumstances are," he said. "We have an option to join or an option not to join and will make our decision upon the facts of the matter when, we see the circumstances.
He also disputed the suggestion that there was more hostility to the single currency in Britain than elsewhere in Europe. Britain certainly had a more severe debate because of its "more adversarial political tradition", but in some other countries the level of disagreement with the single currency concept was even strong9r than it had been shown to be in Britain.
Mr Major praised "the professionalism of the Irish presidency", which had ensured that the published summit conclusions were shorter than usual. He also praised the Taoiseach, who "has chaired the last couple of days with great skill". His praise, he said, was not "just for the sake of form. It has been an extremely good presidency."