Mary Henry (Independent)

There is an extraordinary contradiction in the fact that the UN inspectors are searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the behest of the Americans. I have frequently raised the issue of the United Nations convention on biological weapons and toxins which was introduced in 1972 but had no verification programme. Ireland was one of the countries working on the programme when, 18 months ago, the United States scuppered it by deciding it would not co-operate with it or bring forward something better. I second Senator Norris's call that we debate motion No. 22 today. The hypocrisy of this situation is unbelievable.