Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This is completely opposed to the values of the Irish people.

With regard to the Iraq invasion, we can discuss at length the views on whether there were weapons of mass destruction. What is certain is that none were ever found so the balance of evidence has to be that they never existed. We can consider the fact an invasion took place against the wishes of the United Nations and against its policy but where does this leave us in terms of the Government's motion with regard to the values of the Irish people? Some 100,000 Irish people marched in opposition to the invasion. In seeking to have an ethical foreign policy, surely those of us who questioned what happened at the time of the invasion are closer to the values of the Irish people referred to in the Government amendment. I hope the Minister will accept this point.

Every returned Irish aid worker shares a view with regard to Irish aid to foreign countries. Many have a horror of propping up illegitimate, illegal and degraded Governments in parts of Africa. When I say this, I am not necessarily implying the Government takes the opposite side in every one of the cases mentioned — it does not — but it has done so in some cases. I go along with the point made by Senator Norris with regard to the Falklands and the Middle East, where I would have been very much in tune with the Government position. This question goes back well beyond our time. The values of the Irish people were not represented when de Valera went to sign the book of condolences on the death of Hitler. What we are trying to achieve is a way to have an ethical foreign policy.

I am sorry I will not be present to listen to the Minister explain why he objects to a motion which asks us to implement an ethical foreign policy. It is as if he is taking a position that he is not in favour of an ethical foreign policy.