UN: The Irish Anti-War Movement has welcomed The Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll finding that 59 per cent of voters believe the Government should vote against any UN Security Council resolution authorising military action against Iraq.
The organisation's chairman, Mr Richard Boyd Barrett, called on the Government "to respect the will of the majority of Irish people and publicly oppose the US Government's war plans and end the use of Shannon Airport by the US military".
The results of the opinion poll, published yesterday, showed 59 per cent want the Government to vote against authorising military action if Iraq fails to comply with UN resolutions on arms inspections. Some 29 per cent want Ireland to vote in favour, with 12 per cent having no opinion.
Mr Boyd Barrett said the poll showed that the majority of Irish believed that it would "make little difference to the Iraqi men, women and children who are killed in any war whether the bombs that kill them have a UN stamp of approval".
He said that if Ireland took a clear stance in opposition to the proposed war, this would have a very powerful effect in the US.
"The close connections between Ireland and the US mean that clear Irish opposition to a war in Iraq would have a disproportionate effect on US public opinion. This puts a major responsibility on Ireland to promote peace rather than war," he said.