IRELAND: The Taoiseach has added his voice to appeals for the body of the aid worker Ms Margaret Hassan to be returned to her family for burialwrites Marie O'Halloran
Mr Ahern said her family "would like somebody somewhere to have the decency to allow her to be returned to her family so they can bid her farewell. That is all they ask."
The Taoiseach was leading tributes to Ms Hassan, the country director of the aid agency, Care International, whose murder in Iraq was apparently confirmed by the British embassy in Baghdad.
"Those responsible for taking Margaret Hassan's innocent life stand condemned in the eyes of all people of goodwill throughout the entire international community," Mr Ahern said.
Extending his sympathy to Mrs Hassan's family in Kerry, Cork, Dublin and the UK and to her colleagues at Care International, Mr Ahern said that "this end is enormously sickening. If it is as it seems, as members of her family accept it is, they have one remaining wish" - for her body to be returned.
"It does not seem too much for the House to ask that those who have not listened to us over the past four weeks might listen to this last request."
Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said Ms Hassan had "demonstrated low-key compassion for her fellow man and had an unfailing belief in the capacity of the human heart".
She "rejected what she considered to be the inhumanity of the sanctions against the Iraqi people and the inhumanity of many aspects of the war against their country. That savage inhumanity has led to her apparent murder."
Labour leader Mr Pat Rabbitte joined in "deploring this heinous crime".
The "cause of the people of Iraq has not been served in any way by the sacrifice of her life. All that has happened is that a good person who was a friend to the people of Iraq, and selflessly worked for that country's most vulnerable citizens, has been savagely murdered for no reason and no purpose."
Green Party leader Mr Trevor Sargent described Mrs Hassan as "the quiet, unassuming and determined best friend of Iraq". He said it was "irresponsible to dabble in a war that is supposed to be in the national interest of the country in question. I believe that the death of Margaret Hassan is an effect of that."
Socialist party TD Mr Joe Higgins said "resistance to occupation is absolutely justified, but slaughter of the innocent never is".