Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I know the Taoiseach will not heed my advice to boycott any visit to President Bush this year but will he have any new proposals to put forward at his meeting with the US President with regard to the tens of thousands of Irish citizens living clandestinely in the United States? Shall the Taoiseach seek clarification on the President's reasons for misleading him with regard to the reasons for the invasion of Iraq? Will he raise the worldwide concerns for human rights which have arisen due to the continued existence of the Guantanamo gulag in contravention of natural justice and civil rights?

I wonder whether the Taoiseach read the newspapers this morning. When he arrives at the White House, clutching his bowl of shamrock, will he be wearing a bullet proof vest? I see that, not content with slaughtering innocent Iraqis, Vice President Cheney has turned his gun on a close friend whom he mistook for a duck. The Taoiseach should be careful over there.

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