Irelnd does not wish military action against Iraq without a second UN resolution, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, told the Dáil.
He was replying to the Labour spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, who asked if a pre-emptive strike by the United States would be illegal and in breach of the UN Charter.
Mr Cowen said there was a difficulty in that there was no common legal view on that point.
"When asked what our position would be in those circumstances, we are saying clearly that we wish to avoid the need for military action in the first instance - should military action become unavoidable, we would wish to have it endorsed by a further UN resolution and we do not wish to have military action take place without such further resolution.
"Our position in relation to such action being taken, as I have outlined, would depend on the circumstances. I do not believe it is in our interests to provide for a definitive position in relation to a hypothetical circumstance."
Mr Cowen asked: "What if that circumstance does not materialise? What is the logic of accepting the inevitability of war and proceeding on the basis that unilateral action is the only outcome to all the efforts being made?"
He was not prepared to conduct a "whatiffery" lesson in the House or anywhere else, he said. "If I get into that line of argument, I am allowing for the inevitability for war. There are people in this House who do not want war - and I do not question their sincerity - who themselves have got into the logic that everything is inevitable and nothing can happen. I am sorry. I do not have the date of the war. Other people might have."
Mr Cowen said that as Minister for Foreign Affairs, representing the Government, he would seek to do everything he could, consistent with the traditions of successive governments, to try to ensure the primacy of the UN.
He said the EU had defended the right of the Security Council to decide if there was a further material breach.
