David Norris (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt. I am glad that he is here because he is a decent man with firm liberal principles. It is dangerous to use the word "liberal" in the United States of America at present. It was not with surprise but with cynicism that I discovered that a motion I tabled last week under Standing Order 29 was not regarded as an urgent matter by the Seanad. Such rulings need to be questioned.

Many people who have spoken against the looming war in Iraq have been challenged to place their credentials on the record and perhaps I should do so before I give reasons for my opposition to it. Unlike the overwhelming majority of those who place themselves in the camp of the warmongers, I have opposed Saddam Hussein from the beginning. I believe that I have locus standi in relation to this issue. For example, I was the only Member of the House to oppose selling beef to the Iraqi army in the early 1990s. While Senators on the Government benches at the time told me that my position might have been a moral one, they asked whether Ireland could afford to adopt it. As it turned out, we did the immoral thing and when Saddam Hussein welshed on the deal, the taxpayer ended up with a bill of more than £100,000 to add to the immorality of the Government's actions.