Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

He does, however, go on to state that we as a country are determined to discharge our international obligations both in trying to avert conflict and in carrying out the decisions of the Security Council. Membership of the United Nations and the primacy of the Security Council have been a central plank of Irish foreign policy since 1946 when Ireland first applied for membership. It was the continuation of a foreign policy position, initiated at the League of Nations in the 1930s, when Ireland had a distinguished and proud record of participation in that now unfairly maligned body. Eamon de Valera was a former president of the League of Nations and the last secretary general of the League of Nations was another Irishman from Belfast, Seán Lester. Both men did more to establish Ireland's independent foreign policy than they have been given credit for even to this day. It is particularly relevant, in light of the criticism levelled at the Government over its interpretation of the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order, 1952, on which the Minister went into some detail, that under this order the Minister for Foreign Affairs has full discretion in the granting of permission to foreign military aircraft to fly over land in this State. I believe he has used that discretion wisely.

There is a famous philosophy attributed to a British diplomat who stated that in foreign policy matters his country did not have friends but interests. I would not go so far as to describe Irish foreign policy in such stark terms, but we have a special relationship with the United States. It would be folly in the extreme, damaging to our economic interests and a source of hurt to the millions of Irish Americans if we were to refuse to help America in its time of need. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, leaders of industry and those operating services in the Shannon region have all spelt out the consequences of turning our backs on our American cousins. The United States is a good friend to Ireland.

In the immediate aftermath of the 1916 Rising, the Irish poet, W.B Yeats, wrote, "All is changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty is born." That quote could have been written following 11 September 2001. The events of that awful day have entered the psyche of the American people from the President down. I suggest that we in Europe have not fully grasped the impact of 11 September on America and its people. It is a country at war. Every utterance of President Bush since then is full of the imagery of a wounded nation determined to exact a terrible revenge, hence the war against terrorism, the axis of evil speech and many other such speeches by the President since 11 September. The mindset of President Bush is best understood in his answer to a question at the Blair-Bush press conference in Washington last Friday. When asked why he wanted war, the President replied, "After September 11, the strategic vision of our country shifted dramatically. We now recognise that oceans no longer protect us, that we are vulnerable to attack and that the worst form of attack could come from somebody acquiring weapons of mass destruction and using them on the American people or on our friends in Great Britain." The President continued, "I realise that the world has changed and my most important obligation is to protect the American people from further harm, and I will do that."