Anti-war activists are to hold a protest in Dublin this weekend as former British prime minister Tony Blair signs copies of his autobiography.
Mr Blair will attend a book signing for the launch of his memoirs, A Journey, at Easons on O'Connell Street on Saturday.
In the book, Mr Blair accepts that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction when the US and Britain invaded in 2003.
While Mr Blair accepts responsibility for the mistakes made in the invasion and subsequent occupation, he says those who disagree must accept the suffering that would have occurred in Iraq under Saddam and his sons’ continued rule.
Members of the Irish Anti-War Movement will gather outside the bookshop at 9.30am to highlight Mr Blair’s role in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The protest will include speakers from Iraq and Afghanistan and a wide range of anti-war and Palestinian solidarity groups, as well as a display of giant posters depicting Mr Blair as a war criminal.
Movement chairman Richard Boyd Barrett today defended the plans. “Some people have suggested to us we are being vindictive protesting against Blair after his work with the peace process, but that cannot absolve him of war crimes," he said.
"Maybe as many as a million Iraqis are dead as a result of the war launched by Blair and Bush. Millions more have been maimed or made refugees, and the infrastructure of Iraqi society has been utterly devastated," he said.
An Eason spokesman said protesters were entitled to protest outside the store, but not inside from where they would be removed.
In addition to the book signing, Mr Blair is scheduled to take part in The Late Late Show tomorrow night.
Speaking at the release of a Labour Party sports policy document in Dublin today, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said Mr Blair is welcome to Ireland because of the role he played in the Northern Ireland peace process.
“That said, he and his government were very wrong about Iraq,” he added.
Mr Gilmore said it was the view of the Labour Party that the Iraq war was an illegal war and should not have happened. “There weren’t weapons of mass destruction and there were other means other than going to war which were open to countries at that time."