The Taoiseach, the Tβnaiste, Fine Gael and Labour leaders, the Green Party and Sinn FΘin had a rare 90 minutes of agreement yesterday as the Dβil met specially to hear statements on the terrorist attacks in the United States.
While there was unanimous condemnation of the attacks and sympathy and solidarity with the American people, all who spoke urged a cautious, considered response.
The Taoiseach associated the Irish political view on what should happen next firmly with the response of the EU and stressed the importance of working through the United Nations, as did all who spoke after him. All commended the Bush Administration for its restrained response. "Restraint in the face of provocation and assault is a sign not of weakness, but of strength," said the Labour leader Mr Ruair∅ Quinn.
The only frisson of tension came when Sinn FΘin's Caoimhg∅n ╙ Caolβin rejected suggestions from around the House that his party make the necessary compromise on policing and get their associates in the IRA to decommission in the wake of the attacks. Mr ╙ Caolβin's carefully-phrased condemnation of "the deliberate killing" of civilians in turn brought heckling from a number of deputies in the chamber.
The Taoiseach stressed the EU's efforts to join the US in a "global fight against terrorism".
He said EU justice ministers would meet tomorrow to consider new measures. Intelligence co-operation must be strengthened, and a European judicial area must be brought into effect.
This would include provision for "the creation of a European warrant for arrest and extradition . . . and the mutual recognition of legal decisions and verdicts".
He also emphasised that Europe saw the response as involving more than anti-terrorism measures. At Friday's special summit in Brussels EU heads of state and government will also consider, he said, "what new initiatives can be made to address the current impasse in the Middle East".
His suggestion that there were political conflicts that needed to be resolved in the context of a response to the attacks was echoed around the House. The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, stated bluntly that "the underlying causes of terrorism" needed to be looked at.
There were conflicts which involved "states and groups who feel alienated and excluded, particularly when they find themselves in conflict with the world superpower". Such states and groups were "prone to resort to extreme measures, including terrorism".
However, the Tβnaiste, Ms Harney, spoke of "latent anti-Americanism in some quarters which cannot help seeing the United States as the source of evil, even when it is the victim of evil". It was not possible to be neutral in "the contest that is now unfolding between democracy and fundamentalism".
Mr Ahern praised the US for resisting the temptation "immediately to lash out with all available military might". Civilian casualties must be avoided, the response must be based on clear evidence and be "proportionate, measured and focused on the pursuit of justice". It must not "sow the seeds for even greater catastrophes in the future" nor be seen as "a war of religions".
Most politicians who spoke warned against any hostility to Ireland's Islamic community. Mr Ahern said there could be people living in Ireland who were connected with "the type of extremist fundamentalist organisations suspected of being responsible for last week's appalling carnage". But this should not be exaggerated. He praised the Islamic community in Ireland for its contribution to society and condemned recent attacks on a mosque in Belfast and threats to the Islamic community in Dublin.
Ms Harney, Mr Noonan, Mr Quinn and Mr John Gormley for the Green Party all echoed the need to work through the UN to achieve diplomatic consensus. "We must never lose sight of the fact," said Mr Quinn, "that in the United Nations, we have an organisation and the structures to cope with whatever emerges." According to Mr Noonan: "The United Nations has been and must remain a cornerstone of all our foreign policy and the Government can be assured of Fine Gael's support as it seeks to bring into play to the maximum extent possible the instruments of the United Nations as the world faces into an uncharted, an unpredictable and an uncertain future."
Ms Harney, Mr Noonan and Mr Quinn also took the opportunity to urge the republican movement to respond to the changed atmosphere.
"Your continuing refusal to put arms and explosives beyond use in Ireland," said Mr Noonan, "is an appalling signal to send at any time but particularly so following last week's atrocities."
Mr Quinn said that in the aftermath of last week's events, "the paramilitary organisations and their political associates may find the world a less sympathetic environment in which to exist. The republican movement must decide which direction it is now going to take.
"It can follow up the first tentative steps it has taken along the democratic road and move to full membership of the democratic family with all the opportunities and responsibilities that entails.
Or it can choose to continue to exist in the twilight zone between democracy and terrorism, where it will use democracy one day and paramilitary thuggery the next."