IRELAND/BLIX REPORT: The Government will support offering extra time to UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, if the Iraqi regime can prove it will co-operate fully with the investigation, the Department of Foreign Affairs has said.
The report by Dr Hans Blix and Dr Mohamed ElBaradei to the UN Security Council has increased pressure on the Government in advance of today's No To War march in Dublin.
Responding, a spokesman for the Minister for Foreign Affairs said Mr Cowen had always asserted he would support extra time if the inspectors believed it would serve a useful purpose.
"However, as Hans Blix has made clear, inspections in the absence of full Iraqi co-operation will not secure disarmament," said the spokesman.
The Security Council must now outline precisely what Iraq has to do, how long it has to do it, and how the council "will discharge its responsibilities" if Iraq does not comply, he said.
Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, said the Government should push for time for the weapons inspectors to complete their investigation of Iraq's arsenal.
"The Government should actively discourage unilateral action against Iraq and should press for more time for the inspectors at the UN and through the EU."
Paying tribute to Dr Blix and Dr ElBaradei, the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said both men displayed "considerable courage" in face of US pressure.
"There is no excuse for the Government's continued equivocation and evasion in regard to the threat of unilateral military action by the United States against Iraq," he said. The Government should make clear that it will not "support or facilitate" unilateral military action against Iraq and join the Franco-German peace effort.
Labour TD Mr Michael D. Higgins said there was now "a real prospect" that inspections could work. "There is now no justification for the launching of a massive war that would bring death and destruction to the children and civilian population of Iraq.
The Iraqis must "live up to the spirit and letter" of president Saddam Hussein's promise to ban the importation or production of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
"Countries which want to see a peaceful settlement must now stand firm in the face of the threat of unilateral action from the US and Britain.
"The millions of people throughout the world who are appalled at the catastrophic consequences of a war will have taken great heart from the report of the inspectors," he went on.
Green Party TD Mr John Gormley said the inspectors' latest statement showed that "no new evidence has been uncovered" and it cannot be used as "an excuse for war".
Sinn Féin TD Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh urged the Taoiseach to speak out against war preparations when EU leaders meet in Brussels on Monday.
Socialist TD Mr Joe Higgins claimed vindication for those who believed the drive to war has "everything to do with oil".
