The Taoiseach declined to say what the Government's reaction would be to a unilateral attack on Iraq by the United States and insisted that no decision could be made until the UN arms inspectors had reported.
Mr Ahern added that Ireland and other countries would make a decision when the report was completed. "No country has said what it will finally do and neither will we." He was replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, who expressed his party's opposition to such a move by the US.
The Taoiseach said that Ireland would continue, as it had traditionally done, to work with the Security Council and the United Nations to try to come to a satisfactory conclusion.
"We hope a peaceful solution will be achieved. Perhaps people will say our efforts will be inconsiderable, but we were on the Security Council and we have a good track record in humanitarian and peacekeeping missions."
Asked to comment on a report in The Irish Times yesterday that Mr Ahern and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, were deliberately crafting their statements to leave open the possibility of supporting a US war with neither UN nor EU backing, the Taoiseach said he could not control what went on the front page and the inside of the newspaper.
A source somewhere had spoken to some journalist in The Irish Times, he added.
"I do not know who gave that interview last night but, obviously, the effects of the drink were getting too much for them in some pub in the area."
He said Wednesday night's Dáil speech by the Minister for Foreign Affairs "should have made the headlines this morning, not what somebody said in a local hostelry under the influence of drink.
"The report in The Irish Times on what the Minister for Foreign Affairs said last night, which is set out very well, is the Government's position. I am not responsible for anonymous sources. It could have been Deputy Kenny as far as I know."
Earlier, Mr Kenny said that Fine Gael was opposed to a unilateral invasion of Iraq and believed only multilateral action, supported by the United Nations, should be considered.
"If a second resolution is required, and if that is what Ireland supports, is there any validity in the quoted claims of well-placed Government sources this morning that the bottom line is that Ireland will do what the Americans want?" He said that on Monday, the Taoiseach would attend an EU meeting in Brussels in which Ireland's position would have to be clearly outlined.
"What is the Taoiseach's and the Government's position? Does he and the Government intend to support the United States in the even of a unilateral invasion of Iraq or do they intend only to support the United Nations and its primacy, as this country has always done? Will the Taoiseach give a straight answer to a straight question?"
Mr Ahern said he had no problem giving a straight answer to a straight question, "but first we must wait and see". He did not know what the content of the report of the inspectors would be.
Mr Kenny pressed him to say what the Government would do if the report was negative. Mr Ahern replied that he did not know what the report of Dr Hans Blix and Dr Mohamed ElBaradei would be.
"We will have to wait and see that report. I do not know what the outcome of the meeting next Monday will be, but that is not from where this country will take its lead. This country will take its lead, as it has traditionally done, from the United Nations."
Pressed further, Mr Ahern said that the Government would work to try to find a peaceful solution.
"We did so successfully as a member of the Security Council on November 8th, when resolution 1441 was adopted. It is a good resolution with three different mechanisms to try to bring this to a peaceful resolution. We will continue to try to do so."Contingency arrangements are in place for the potential economic impact on Ireland in the event of war with Iraq, Mr Ahern told Mr Kenny.
The Government had had a series of discussions about the financial consequences, including an analysis of the tourism situation there was military conflict.
The resources used for tourism marketing would have to be looked at and Irish embassies around the world had been asked to analyse figures for the last quarter of 2002, Mr Ahern said during Question Time.
In times of uncertainty "investors baulk from taking action" and that has a "serious effect" on foreign direct investment. Mr Ahern added that the IDA and Enterprise Ireland had "redoubled their efforts" but the situation was a matter of serious concern.
