More time needed for inspections, TDs insist

IRELAND: Opposition parties here have called for the UN weapons inspectors to be given more time to complete their job, and said yesterday's report by Dr Hans Blix offered no basis for a war against Iraq.

On the eve of the Dáil's resumption, they also turned up the pressure on the Government over its support for the transit through Shannon Airport of US troops bound for the Gulf. A private member's motion to be debated tomorrow will call for the withdrawal of landing and refuelling facilities at Shannon for US military personnel.

The Greens insisted the statement by Dr Blix revealed no material breach of UN Resolution 1441 "and cannot be used as an excuse for war against Iraq".

The party's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr John Gormley, said it showed the inspectorate needed more time. If the US and British governments had specific intelligence on hidden weapons, they should make it public now "to an increasingly sceptical public".

He added: "If the arms inspectors fail to produce anything tangible then a war against Iraq cannot be justified. This should be the position of the European Union and it should certainly be the position of the Irish Government."

Sinn Féin also called for the inspections to be allowed "run their course". Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD said although the inspectors' reports indicated there had been "difficulties," they also emphasised that good progress had been made. "This must be welcomed and built upon," he added.

Tomorrow's motion, signed by the Socialist Party's Mr Joe Higgins and Independent TDs, including Mr Tony Gregory and Mr Finian McGrath, criticises the "systematic undermining by the US administration of the work of the UN weapons inspectors".

It also accuses the Government of "massive dishonesty" over the use of Shannon by US troops, and calls for the facilities to be withdrawn as part of an effort to prevent an attack on Iraq by the US or Britain.

A week-long series of anti-war protests will begin today at Leinster House when a group of 47 schoolchildren deliver postcards to the Taoiseach with the message "Stop fuelling the war".

The size of the group, which will be accompanied by opposition politicians including Green Party leader Mr Trevor Sargent, is designed to highlight the fact that 47 per cent of Iraq's population is under 16, and that children would be among the victims of any war.

The protests culminate on Saturday with a "family-friendly peace walk" from Bunratty Castle to Shannon Airport, with participants to include the Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, the Most Rev Willie Walsh, and a former assistant secretary general of the UN, Mr Denis Halliday.

Elsewhere, the Green MEP Ms Patricia McKenna will travel to Iraq at the weekend as part of a delegation of more than 30 MEPs.