I call Deputy Rabbitte.

The Taoiseach has dramatically watered down the position of the United Nations. I have not heard any statement from the United Nations that implies it would settle for what the Taoiseach has attributed to Kofi Annan. I will come back to that.

When meeting President Bush, the Taoiseach took the opportunity to raise with him the horrific toll of civilian casualties. Did he tell the President about the revulsion of people in this country at the photographs of children, some of them without arms and some without access to hospital care as a result of this war? Is Deputy Kenny right? Did the Taoiseach ask President Bush whether the horrific bombardment of civilian areas is coming to an end? Did he ask him if the American forces have found any evidence of the weapons of mass destruction that caused this war to be launched in the first place? What did the Taoiseach mean yesterday when, having been asked whether he would accede to a Labour Party call on him to tell the US President that the Irish people saw the war as illegal, he told The Irish Times: “I have said from the outset I would be saying that so there is no need for people to remind me.” The Taoiseach sent his lawyers into court yesterday in the case before the High Court to say the opposite. Which is it?

In terms of the United Nations, what is the Taoiseach's understanding of President Bush's response to Mr. Chirac's statement that it was up to the United Nations alone to take on the political, economic, humanitarian and administrative reconstruction of Iraq? What is the Taoiseach's understanding of that statement which implies that at least that major country, which I suspect is speaking for many in the United Nations, wants Iraq to become a UN protectorate? What is the response of Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair to that and does the Taoiseach side with the position of Monsieur Chirac or that of President Bush?

I will try to answer all those questions. I urged the President and the Prime Minister to take every possible step to avoid civilian casualties and to do all they could to make sure humanitarian issues are observed in full. I gave an account of people's major concern about civilian casualties. They stated they have been making every effort in this war to keep civilian casualties to the lowest number possible. That is their position. I emphasised the immediate need to provide urgent treatment and care for the casualties of war. The position in the hospitals in Iraq is dire, and that is the word I used. I urged the President and the Prime Minister to provide field hospitals for the injured as a supplement to local hospitals. I received that information on humanitarian issues from the NGOs. I asked them to give serious consideration to that and the President said he thought it was a good idea. He did not think it was being done and he would relay it to the appropriate people. The President and Prime Minister told me how deeply conscious they are of the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. I recalled that Ireland had already pledged our resources which may be small in international terms but are considerable for a country of this size. We agreed that the humanitarian situation in Iraq must become the immediate priority as events move on.

It is clear from my discussions that the war will not end in a day or two. Their assessment seems to be that it will take some more days, although that is a military call. Deputy Kenny did not say that the UN made a statement. I was asked yesterday for my assessment of what Kofi Annan said. My view was that he wanted to get into partnership and contact has already been made in the period between my conversation with him and my meeting yesterday. He will be in London tomorrow and he will also visit some other countries. He will also meet with President Chirac.

On the question of the legitimacy of the war, I gave a press conference the other day during which I answered questions. My position has not changed on the legitimacy of the war. The position was not agreed in the Security Council and until an international body or the UN calls the war illegal, my position is that I am not calling the war illegal. There are difficulties because of what happened in the UN but that position remains the same.

On the Secretary General's view, it is not the position of the Secretary General now that the United Nations can come in and take over the entire operation of Iraq and put in place local government, engineering services and a government and reconstruct Iraq on its own. That is not the position of the United Nations. Its position is that it believes it can play a useful role. On the humanitarian aspects, it can play a total role. In the other area, the words used to me were the political facilitation leading to the emergence of a new or interim administration. That is what the Secretary General is anxious to get in on and he wants to be in partnership – I am using his words, not mine – with Prime Minister Blair and President Bush. I put that position, using precisely the same words, to President Bush and he strongly stated, and Prime Minister Blair agreed, that that was his intention and that was how it would work out. I want to be clear about this. It is not a question of America and the UK leaving Iraq at the end of the war. They will work in partnership with the UN and, hopefully, other countries. That is their clear intention.