John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Minister started by trotting out the usual rubbish about this being long-standing policy. It is not a long-standing policy. I remind him that in the Horgan case, Mr. John Rogers, SC, made it very clear that between 1945 and 1991 successive Irish Governments imposed very strict limitations on the use of Irish territory, even in peacetime. It allowed US troops transit on Irish territory only if they were unarmed, not engaged in war and not even engaged in military operations. I remind the Minister that a document from the security policy section of his Department, dated 16 December 2002, revealed that what was occurring at Shannon was not, in fact, normal, but rather "entirely exceptional". The text noted quite explicitly that on an exceptional basis a decision was taken to provide landing and refuelling facilities, pursuant to the State's obligation under a UN Security Council resolution. That is what it says, so for the Minister to say this is normal practice is nonsense. The fact is the Minister continues to kow-tow to George W. Bush. He and others who have supported the war in Iraq have been proven completely wrong. As I said in the question, the war has proven to be entirely counterproductive.

The Minister mentioned various UN resolutions. When he reads Resolution 1546, which refers to meeting the needs of the Iraqi people for security and stability, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, will he agree that what exists is not stability? I should like the Minister to look at the facts on the ground, where 100,000 Iraqis are leaving each month, where the US central command in a classified briefing paper in mid-October said the situation was close to chaos, which the CIA confirmed, and where successive opinion polls in Iraq show that the US troops should get out if there is to be stability. Why does the Minister completely ignore all the facts and continue with a policy which the Irish people opposes? Some 100,000 people came out on the streets of Dublin to say they did not want this war.

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