The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has described as "revolting" the abuse by US forces of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad and said such actions were in breach of the Geneva Convention.
However, Mr Ahern said in Dublin yesterday that any attempt by the Opposition to make an issue of the abuse during President Bush's visit to Ireland would be a "disgrace".
Referring to the series of photographs depicting repeated incidents of severe mistreatment of prisoners, Mr Ahern said: "Quite frankly I think it's revolting." He went on: "As I previously said, it's in breach, as far as the Irish Government is concerned, of the Geneva Convention. It certainly is in breach of international humanitarian law."
Mr Ahern said that such law held that an army engaged in military activity must preserve, uphold and promote the best humanitarian practices. "In this case, they're not." Asked whether he would make such views known at the EU-US summit, Mr Ahern said: "We've actually already made it very clear."
A spokesman for Mr Ahern said later that he was referring to media comments he made last week in Poland and in a CNN interview. There was no context in which Mr Ahern could have raised the issue directly with the US authorities, he said.
While the situation in Iraq would be discussed during Mr Ahern's meeting with Mr Bush, the spokesman said the question of the abuse of prisoners would be raised only if it was still an issue at the time of the summit.
"Unless there's some ongoing issue with that at that stage, I'm not sure that the issue will be raised." The spokesman said the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, had remarked that the US had responded "correctly" to the disclosure of abuse by initiating an investigation and making clear "their commitment to rectifying any failure to observe or adhere to international humanitarian law".
Mr Ahern said he did not believe the Bush visit was an attempt to rally Irish-American support for his re-election campaign.
