Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I regret that the situation in Iraq has reached its current level. Like many other reasonable people in this country, I am a pacifist and opposed to war by any means. However, when one looks at the circumstances surrounding the blatant murder being perpetrated by the USA and the UK in Iraq, one would have to take cognisance of the issues which have led to this illegal war.

The war will, according to the UN Commission for Human Rights, have a catastrophic impact on the civilian population in Iraq and we must not lose sight of that. Some 46% of the Iraqi population of 22 million are under the age of 15. This is a population weakened by 12 years of sanctions that have left approximately 70% of the population dependent on the Oil for Food Programme. One child in four under the age of five is malnourished. Nonetheless, the Government of our small nation is sponsoring this barbaric murder in Iraq.

The approach by the Government has been characterised by secrecy, mismanagement and blatant ignorance. There were selective quotes from different Ministers telling us A, B, C and D and informing us that Ireland believed in United Nations resolutions and in the United Nations as an organisation. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, in reply to a written question in the Dáil recently stated:

No arrangements have been agreed with the US Government to facilitate the use of Shannon Airport for the transfer of troops and equipment to the Middle East. Any request for such agreement will be considered in light of the position of the UN Security Council.