John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

He is the first Irish casualty of the second Gulf War. I am glad to see him back.

I was also taken aback by the contribution of Senator Feeney who spoke about Irish foreign policy. She said there were three fundamental planks in Irish foreign policy but she never mentioned the word "neutrality". This is a Fianna Fáil Senator and the Fianna Fáil Party has always held neutrality as the sacred cow of its founding father, Éamon de Valera. I found it a remarkable contribution.

I was not surprised by the stance of the Progressive Democrat Senators, Morrissey and Minihan, who seemed to finally announce that we should shut up shop and become the 51st state of the union. That had been the all-but-stated policy of their leader during this debate.

While a war in Iraq may be necessary in certain circumstances, I do not think it is justified at this point. It is only a few short weeks since the Taoiseach said that a second resolution from the Security Council was a political imperative. At that time, the Minister for Foreign Affairs also said that force should only be used as a last resort when every other possibility had been tried and failed. The hollowness of those statements has been revealed. They can be added to the broken promises from the leaders of this Administration.