IT IS inevitable that the public should want more from its Government by way of verbal reaction to the events in Lebanon than the coded language of diplomats. After all, our own soldiers have been under fire.
It is just as inevitable too that diplomats directly involved in the mediation process should urge on politicians the verbal restraint for which they are neither noted or inclined towards.
What do they want, diplomats will ask, megaphone diplomacy or effective diplomacy? We are part of the EU Troika which must establish its bona fides with both sides. "No one is served by the politics of condemnation" is the line that will be all too familiar to those who follow the Northern Ireland peace process.
To be fair to Iveagh House, the Israelis have been made well aware that the Government views their actions in Lebanon as disproportionate to the legitimate ends of self defence. Such messages are often all the more effective for being delivered quietly, as one friend to another.
However, there are limits to such quiet diplomacy. Israel's actions yesterday required a strong public reaction. Last night the Tanaiste did not pull his punches.
The truth is that whatever about Ireland, the EU has been wrong footed not just by yesterday's developments but by the events of the last few days. Its carefully formulated and substantial Middle East strategy and indeed its policy towards the rest of the world - is incapable of a fast response to a developing crisis. The Union appears flat footed as one member rushes in with its own initiative.
The common position of 15, some with quite different interests in the region, takes time to formulate, particularly as it must be done by unanimity.
The EU had until yesterday yet to pronounce itself on the onslaught on Lebanon beyond expressing "grave concern", calling for a cessation of military activities on all sides, and reiterating its commitment and that of the UN to the territorial integrity of Lebanon. All it could do was instruct its Troika mission, currently in the region, to prepare a report for Monday's meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
The meeting will be, followed immediately by a meeting of foreign ministers of the group of countries at the recent Sharm elSheikh peace summit, now assuming considerable significance. This includes all the main players in the Middle East with the exception of Iran and Syria. the EU Troika countries and the US in the form of the Secretary of State.
With the French and US working together on merging their two positions and, possibly, agreeing to act as guarantors of an agreement to keep the peace in south Lebanon, the meeting may provide an import ant opportunity for a deal to be wrapped up.
But whether, after the events yesterday, the meeting will be able to proceed now is unclear.
The impression of inactivity by the Union is already provoking anger among MEPs. The leader of the Liberal group, Mr Gijs de Vries, told a press conference the silence of the Union exposed the complete paralysis and lack of credibility of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
He deplored the inaction of the Italian presidency and of the Commission and protested that the French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, had acted without prior consultation.
Italian and other diplomatic sources have expressed exasperation with the French unilateral action, seen as a breach of Union solidarity and an attempt to steal the limelight in the region. Perhaps the truth is that prompt French action served only to expose the slowness of EU decision making.
The Union is by far the largest donor of aid to the Palestinians - some £400 million is pledged between 1994 and 1998 to the West Bank and Gaza - and is establishing an increasingly important economic relationship with the region through its Mediterranean programme and negotiations on a series of association accords.
The EU has also developed a sophisticated long term strategy for the Middle East based on a commitment to encourage and reward intra regional trade and co operation in the same way that it is planning to do in Bosnia and has done in Northern Ireland.
But there has been considerable frustration inside the Union at its inability to match this economic thrust with a political role of similar weight, a role that would be welcomed by much of the Arab world, which sees the US as very much parti pris.
Above all the structures of the Union's CFSP have shown themselves incapable of responding to crisis - as the former US representative to Bosnia, Mr Richard Holbrooke, pointed out painfully to the EU, Europe "slept" through the crisis over Greece's Aegean island. The sidelining of the EU in Lebanon will add further impetus to the calls for the Union's InterGovernmental Conference to give the Union both teeth and flexibility.
