Has the Taoiseach's attention been drawn to the statement by the former US Secretary of State, Mr. James Baker, that "this is a war of choice, not a war of necessity"? Does the Taoiseach accept that public opinion regards this war as illegitimate, contrary to UN sanction, contrary to international law and driven by ideology, an ideology that threatens great instability in the region? I am sure he has seen the images of civilian casualties, which all of us have seen, the images of dismembered children and is aware of images which, according to today's "Morning Ireland" programme, are being reported from Baghdad as being too awful to be ever broadcast to the public. Against this background, does the Taoiseach still consider it appropriate to facilitate the war effort through Shannon? Does he think it is still appropriate for the Irish Government not to have a position on the new ideology or new doctrine of pre-emptive wars? Specifically, has he considered, as the leader of a neutral country, whether he ought to take some initiative with like-minded countries at the United Nations? In particular, has the Government given any consideration to invoking Resolution 377, the uniting for peace mechanism as it is known, to cause the United Nations that has been reduced to a bystander or a casualty of this conflict, to convene the General Assembly to address the grave issues we see on television every night?

Deputy Rabbitte has asked a number of questions. I share his concern and the views of everybody on the reality of what we see every night on our televisions. The realities and the horrors of war, particularly modern war, high technology and sophisticated weaponry, as always in wars, hit at the innocent people who have nothing to do with it, the women who were killed in the bus, the children who were killed in the market place. Our position for many months, as Deputy Rabbitte is aware, has been that we wanted to see this conflict resolved peacefully. We wanted to see it resolved in the context of the United Nations by the enforcement of Resolution 1441 and all the preceding resolutions. Unfortunately, that was not possible. The compliance necessary to ensure that happened in an effective way was not complied with by the Iraqi Administration. They had the opportunity to do that, and it would have helped had they done so but they did not. Unfortunately, we are now into a war position.

Deputy Rabbitte knows the legal position on this war. Internationally, it is only for the UN or the international organisations to declare whether this war is legal or illegal. There has been a difference of opinion on the definition within the UN on this matter for many months. The view of the United States and others is that they have authority under earlier resolutions. The view of Ireland and other countries was that it would have been preferable as a political imperative to come back with another resolution, whether it was a legal certainty or not. The legal position has not been clarified.

As regard pre-emptive strikes, we do not believe the question of pre-emptive strikes applies to this conflict. The reason for that is that the permanent representatives of both the US, the UK and Australia wrote separately to the President of the Security Council informing him that military action had been taken against Iraq. All three said the reason was Iraq's failure to disarm, so they had complied with the rules. The United Nations Charter allows for the use of force in two circumstances, first, when states are acting individually or collectively or in self defence or, second, when the Security Council has decided that force is necessary. In our view a second resolution would have been the way to resolve all of these difficulties but that did not happen. Internationally and legally, it is not considered to be a pre-emptive strike.

That is not true.

Deputy Rabbitte has asked me if it is the Government's intention to change its position on overflights and landings at Shannon. It is not the Government's intention to change its position. On humanitarian issues, I agree with Deputy Rabbitte, and initiatives we can take are being considered. The Minister will have important meetings tomorrow in Brussels, I think – the question of the venue had not been resolved early this morning when I last spoke to the Minister – to see what will happen. It was also suggested by some of the non-governmental organisations that I might speak to Kofi Annan and we are following that up. Anything we can do to assist the UN in the humanitarian effort will be done.

I am surprised the Taoiseach is trying to avoid the question of where we stand on the doctrine of pre-emptive war by denying it is happening. The leaders of the American Administration have made no secret of the fact that this is precisely what is happening and that this is the shape of world and geopolitics after 11 September. No one is denying the monstrous nature of this regime, but we have seen the horrific civilian casualties in this war, which we were told was about the possession of weapons of mass destruction, even though none so far has been found. We were then told the war was about regime change and then we were told it was about the liberation of people who would garland the troops with flowers as they went in. None of these things has happened. Is the Taoiseach satisfied that the United States is publicising the names of those who will be sent in on behalf of the American Government to manage the reconstruction of and run Iraq post war? Is the Taoiseach saying he is not prepared to consider the use of procedure 377 to cause the General Assembly to meet and, at a minimum, try to limit the war and ensure that the reconstruction is put firmly in the charge of the United Nations? Will he answer that straight question?

This country and the Government did not want a war. We did everything we could, very successfully, in terms of the preparation of Resolution 1441 and earlier efforts—

That is not true.

—and, unfortunately, we are no longer in the UN to continue that work. We engaged very actively in the food for oil system to try to help the Iraqi people. The Irish people, through our NGOs, are doing their best on the humanitarian issue.

Regarding pre-emptive strikes, all three countries gave official notification to the Security Council and set out the official reason for taking military action. They complied with what are the relevant criteria.

They wrote letters so it is all right.

That is the legal position under the UN Charter. They did not mention regime change. We always stated out position in the UN, that this war is not about regime change.

Tomorrow I hope the Minister will meet the US Secretary of State, Mr. Colin Powell, and others. Arrangements will be made for that meeting. We hope, on a European basis, to engage more proactively within the UN to see what we can do on the humanitarian issue. Deputy Rabbitte asked for a direct answer to a particular question, and anything we can do within the context of the United Nations to assist in the short term will be done.

Will the Taoiseach contact Kofi Annan on procedure 377?

It has been suggested to me that I and others should talk to Kofi Annan. A European effort will be made on this matter, but I am looking at that and we are trying to make arrangements in that regard.