Mr. Patrick Smyth:

It is difficult to pin that down. I would ask the Deputy about his appreciation of the people's attitude to the Afghan war, for example. It seems to me that in terms of legitimacy internationally, the Afghan war was quite clear-cut.

I was reporting in America after 9/11 and there was no significant force in America arguing against the intervention in Afghanistan. There was unanimity in the Security Council, and in Ireland there was no serious objection to sending forces, including Irish forces, to Afghanistan. If one compares that with Iraq, one will find a significant difference in public attitudes, but it does not take away from the fundamental point about the nature of attitudes to neutrality.