THE German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, invited Ireland to join in building a new Europe at last night's dinner in his honour at Dublin Castle.

In his pre dinner address, Dr Kohl touched on many of the themes which he had dealt with in his Dail speech yesterday. He emphasised again the contribution made by Ireland in 1989 and 1990 during German's drive for unification, and he welcomed the presence at the dinner of Dr Garret FitzGerald and Mr Charles Haughey.

He said many people had been sceptical about German unification but "you helped us. You stood by us". He spoke of the warm friendship between the German and Irish people and the need to build a "solid European house" which would have lots of rooms and an agreed set of rules for those living in it. Ireland had a lot of bricks and mortar to contribute to this house, he said.

Dr Kohl was seated at a table with Mr Bruton and his wife Fionnuala, Mr Proinsias De Rossa and Mr Dick Spring. Among the other guests were the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, many of Dr Kohl's senior officials, and people prominent in Irish German business associations.

Guests at the dinner were served lime cured Irish salmon and spinach with celeriac salad, followed by prime fillet of Irish beef with a morrel and shallot sauce and fresh market vegetables. Sticky toffee pudding was followed by coffee and petit fours.

The wines were German: Freinsheimer Goldberg Riesling Spatlese Dry Lingenfelder 1993; Spatburgunder Pinot Noir Lingenfelder 1993; and Winzenheimer Berg Trockenbeerenauslese Schloss Plettenberg 1992.

Ia his address, the Taoiseach praised the Chancellor as a great statesman, pointing to his courage, leadership, endurance and vision during the past 14 years in government. He spoke of Ireland's priorities during its EU Presidency, including security of employment, safer streets, sound monetary policy and a peaceful Europe.

"We are, each one of us, conscious of the need to do all in our power to ensure a strong, job creating economy in Europe," he said.

He also highlighted a determination to "give added impetus to the struggle against the problems of drug abuse and organised crime". These, he said, were "cancers in our society" and Ireland's presidency would seek to improve cooperation between states to aid law enforcement and efforts by the customs services.

On economic and monetary union, Mr Bruton said the introduction of the euro would have a profound significance for all EU economies. Ireland, he said, had committed itself to entering the third stage of EMU on, January 1st, 1999. Germany had consistently demonstrated its determination to achieve the goal of a single European currency, he added.

Germany and Ireland shared a commitment to further progress in the process of European integration under the Inter Governmental Conference, the Taoiseach said. He applauded the German approach to small versus large member state issues, saying it was "very much appreciated".

"It is essential to avoid creating confrontation, where none now exists, between small and large member states", he said.