Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister and his officials to the House. I congratulate the Minister on his excellent speech with its strong emphasis on the humanitarian aspect. It was a fine contribution to the debate.

I deeply regret the outbreak of war in Iraq and the failure of international diplomacy. I hope the war will finish quickly with a minimum of casualties on all sides and that the international community will be able to come together to reconstruct a freer and more prosperous Iraq.

Ireland put maximum effort as a member of the UN Security Council and as an EU member into contributing to creating an international framework for the peaceful resolution of this dispute, consistent with our traditional foreign policy principles. Unfortunately, we did not get enough help from Iraq. For a long time, Iraq openly flouted UN inspectors and the limited compliance we have seen only happened when massive force was assembled. I do not find reassuring that, in the past week, funds were sent to the families of suicide bombers and there was a threat to attack Americans anywhere and everywhere in the world, which is effectively an explicit threat of terrorism.

Other factors also contributed to diplomatic failure such as the tactless comments and insensitivity by some voices in the US Administration, which took other countries too much for granted. There were palpable divisions within the EU – between Britain and Spain on the one hand, and France and Germany on the other. It showed in stark relief the limitations of attempts at large country led common foreign and security policies. I am glad that Ireland did not take sides as between those two groups.

We all have deep concerns about the long-term implications of the replacement of the doctrine of containment with that of pre-emption, although I am sure that many Members understand the reasons which have led to that change. My problem is not so much with the idea of American hegemony – it is a fact whether we like it – but more with the use to which that hegemony is put. There could be more positive times ahead if America, more than in the past, helps to curtail the duration of long-term, one-party governments and military dictatorships which impoverish and enslave their peoples.