Opposition politicians have piled pressure on the Government to state that the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel amounts to a breach of international law.
On Thursday Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee highlighted how the military action has no United Nations mandate. However, she stopped short of explicitly saying this amounts to a breach of international law.
Speaking during Dáil statements on the Middle East conflict McEntee said the military operation by the US and Israel had no authorisation from the UN “nor has any attempt been made to seek such an authorisation”.
She said: “Ireland’s position on the use of force outside such a context is well established and known” and “all states must abide by international law and the principles of the UN charter.”
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McEntee also said the “priority must be to quickly end this conflict and for urgent de-escalation”.
Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said the conflict with Iran “is particularly dangerous” and is “without basis”. He urged the Government to call it “for what it is” – a “breach of international law”. Ó Laoghaire said the Government has not “been quite so weak as some other European countries” but said others have been “clear what this is” citing Spain and Norway.
Labour Party TD Duncan Smith said “there are no angels or good guys in this war”. He criticised Iran’s government as an “abhorrent regime” and said Israel and the US were breaking international law.
Smith referred to McEntee’s comments earlier in the debate, saying they were strongest comments she had made and were “de facto saying that the attacks and that the war is illegal without actually using those words” but he added: “It is important that we use those words.”
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy accused the Government of a “shameful” response to the war and of refusing to say is contrary to international law. He called for Taoiseach Micheál Martin not to go to the White House to “hand over the bowl of shamrock” on St Patrick’s Day.
Murphy claimed that the meeting going ahead would allow US president Donald Trump to “use the Irish national day to present himself as a friend of the Irish to greenwash himself and to cover up the war crimes that he’s currently engaged in”.
At the end of the debate Minister of State Robert Troy called for dialogue and diplomacy.
He said actions by “multiple parties” in recent days had “undermined” principles of international law.
Troy said Ireland’s position on the use of force where there is no UN mandate is that it is “illegal”. He said: “All states must abide by international law and the principles of the UN charter regardless of who the States involved are.”
At a press conference in Government Buildings McEntee was repeatedly quizzed on the issue of whether the Government believes the US and Israel have breached international law.
She said it was clear that the US and Israel did not have a UN mandate and “for this type of action to take place we believe that they should have that”.
Put to her that she was stopping short of explicitly saying the US and Israel had breached international law she replied: “I think we can all see the extremely difficult situation in the Middle East, much of which has been caused by Iran.”
She said Iran had “massacred its own citizens” and “contributed to state-sponsored terrorism”. McEntee continued: “We all want to see an improvement and a change and we want the people of Iran to be able to essentially set out their own destiny. That has not been possible.”
She added: “At the same time, it is essential that if this type of conflict is to take place with that overall objective ... that it is done so in accordance with the UN” and “we do not believe that there is UN mandate for this”.
Asked if she was reluctant to say that the US breached international law in advance of the Taoiseach’s St Patrick’s Day meeting with Trump she said White House visit have provided an opportunity to raise concerns over many years. She said the opportunity has always been taken to “raise very complex and challenging issues and I believe that this St Patrick’s Day visit will be no different.”
