ONCE every six months the heads of state and government of the EU, accompanied by their foreign ministers, and, for some of the time by finance ministers, attend the elaborate ritual that is the European Council, the supreme governing body of the EU.
Its debates, behind closed doors, are largely formal tours de table that have got longer and longer with each successive enlargement. The result is that on the bulk of issues each leader gets his/her say once, and briefly at that. Detailed negotiations are inevitably either completed in advance or in informal exchanges outside the room.
Frustrated by the prolonged recital of well-known national positions, on Friday afternoon France's President Chirac suggested to the incoming Dutch presidency that it should look at new ways of doing business, particularly time limits on speeches or an insistence that they speak without notes. He pointed out to their Prime Minister, Mr Wim Kok, the simple fact that 15 times five minutes each made 75 minutes - of which some 30 minutes appeared to consist of mutual congratulations.
That congratulations did rain down on the Irish presidency was undoubtedly the case, and, although normal for such occasions, seemed genuinely heartfelt. Specifically, repeatedly mentioned in dispatches were the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, for his handling of the stability pact row, and Mr Noel Dorr, the Tanaiste's special IGC representative, for his masterful summation of the negotiations.
The leaders' debates, instead of making clear decisions, are taken as an indication by officials of the general direction that the presidency conclusions - the final statement of the summit - should take. That document is then drafted overnight by presidency officials so that the leaders can pore over it on Saturday morning.
Irish officials were delighted that their summary was accepted almost unamended when the leaders did come to it - testimony to considerable drafting and political acumen.
The real debates of the summit thus took place on Sunday - in the morning, monetary union briefly, employment, and a glimpse at the new banknotes; in the afternoon, sealing the deal on monetary union, the Inter-Governmental Conference, justice and home affairs, and enlargement. Over separate dinners foreign ministers aid leaders debated different aspects of foreign policy.
Freed from their travails by this stage, exhausted finance ministers repaired to Patrick Guilbaud's private dining room. What they discussed is anyone's guess.
European Correspondent, Patrick Smyth, has pieced together, however, an account of the contributions to Friday's debates inside the heads of government and state meeting.