Delegates applauded Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Michael D. Higgins, when he said last night that the war in Iraq had left relations between the Irish and British Labour parties "deeply divided".
Mr Higgins did not elaborate on this unscripted comment, but said general relations between Ireland and Britain and within the EU had changed due to the war.
Claiming the Government's stance on the military campaign was shameful, he accused Ministers of talking out of the sides of their mouths in their reluctance to criticise the war and permit US military to use Shannon Airport.
In a passionate speech, Mr Higgins said international affairs was in a state of total confusion after the war. "To those who want to wring their hands about the situation, the best way to have made everybody safe and to avoid what we saw on television was to have not proceeded with the war."
"We have just emerged from an awful and appalling war," he went on. "It is time for us to be honest and be able to say, if we are interested in the recovery of the United Nations, that it had inspectors in Iraq who were making progress but whose work was undermined."
He added: "The use of Shannon was illegal and compromised Irish neutrality. We were passive accomplices to the build-up of war, and the Government alone must bear that particular shame. They continually refused to answer my questions concerning whether or not the presence of US troops and aircraft contravened the 1954 Defence Act. Their silence spoke volumes."
Delegates passed motions that opposed the doctrine of pre-emptive war and expressed concern at the "diminution of Ireland's neutrality".
A motion calling for the reform of the United Nations was also passed. It condemned the undermining of the UN by the US and Britain, stating that the case for reform was "ever more urgent in the context of a world dominated by one superpower, growing regional tensions and the threat of international terrorism".
Linking his anti-war argument to a strident critique of "the myth of globalisation", Mr Higgins said there was a choice between sleepwalking amid unaccountable economics or the creation of an alternative.
"Politicians do differ," he said. "A simple test will show a difference between the right and the left in politics in Ireland. To the question as to what issues should not be left to the market alone, any serious politician of the left would mention such areas as health, education and housing.
"The right and the populists would suggest that the State's involvement be a minimalist one. We should not forget that the right-of-centre Government, as described by Charlie McCreevy, is there by the people's choice."
