Mary Henry (Independent)

I acknowledge the Minister of State's commitment to this issue. The justification for this war is nil. I was one of the doctors who wrote a letter against this war to The Irish Times. I said that I regretted the fact that Ireland allowed the troops to go through Shannon. I doubt that it would make much difference if we stopped the troops passing through, but, unfortunately, our attitude will now be aligned with that of America. Given the great name we had in the past in terms of the distribution of humanitarian aid, I hope our workers will not be put in a situation of greater danger because of the flights into Shannon. I am sure the Government would not want that to happen, but it is a possibility.

For Prime Minister Blair's sake, I hope that anthrax is found by the tonne. I do not mean just a few flasks of it. He has stated that it exists in Iraq. Unless it is revealed by the tonne, I will not believe it was there. If there are just a few litres, I will not believe that they could not have been brought in. There are numerous laboratories in America where anthrax is available. It is the only country where there has been a problem with anthrax in recent years. If Prime Minister Blair is to have any credibility, anthrax and some chemical agents had better be found by the tonne.

The Minister and other Senators have mentioned the bombing of the Red Crescent maternity hospital. This is the last straw. In the past ten years, as I have said previously in the House, the maternal and infant mortality figures in Iraq have risen to an appalling level as a result of the sanctions imposed on that country. The maternal mortality figure for 2000 was 370 per 100,000 births. In this country the figure is eight and it might include car accidents, cancer and other causes. Even worse, before 1990 the figure was about half that. This is a serious situation. The country has been in a humanitarian crisis during the past ten to 12 years.