Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

A convention and a precedent have covered this for 50 years and we have followed them. While there is concern about these issues — I, like everybody else, will be very interested to hear what the US Secretary of State has to say on the broader issues tonight, including some of the questions raised by the former president, Mrs. Robinson, whom I also hold in high regard in the ambit of human rights — we will follow the practice we have followed. If the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, gives us assurances I must accept them.

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