Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 March 2004
15 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the necessity of differentiating between the war in Iraq and multilateral support within the European Union and the United Nations community for a concerted approach towards dealing with terrorism on the world scale. [10105/04]
View answerFor Ireland, as indeed for several other members of the EU, it was a matter of greatest regret that the Iraqi crisis reached a point where military conflict began. This is exactly the outcome which we had worked to avoid during our time on the Security Council. The Government has consistently opposed the use of force, except as a last resort after all other possible means have been tried and failed.
There are different viewpoints on the compatibility of the war on Iraq with United Nations resolutions. The letter of 20 March 2003 from the US Permanent Representative to the President of the Security Council stated that "in view of Iraqi material breaches, the basis for the ceasefire has been removed and the use of force is authorised under Resolution 678". There is, therefore, no international legal consensus on this issue. Hence, the Government underlined at the time the overriding political need for a further resolution and for absolute clarity that the way forward was, to partially quote from the Deputy's question, through multilateral support within the United Nations community.
In the wider context of dealing with terrorism, the Government strongly supports a concerted approach within the EU and the broader international community in tackling the problem of terrorism as an issue in its own right
