SEANAD DEBATE: The events of the past two weeks had not only made the development of a common European foreign and security policy more difficult but might have impeded, if not imperilled, the work of the Convention on the future of Europe, Dr Maurice Hayes, (Ind), told the House.
Dr Hayes, who is chairman of the National Forum on Europe, was speaking in the debate on a Government motion supporting the maintenance of the "longstanding arrangements for the overflight and landing in Ireland of US military and civilian aircraft". The motion was passed by 25 votes to 13.
Stressing that it was hugely important not to allow a Europe-US split or American isolationism to develop, Dr Hayes said it was important also to avoid divisions within the EU.
Even allowing for the moral quagmire that was the theory of the "just war" he found the concept of pre-emptive strike very difficult to accept, or the domino effect that while it was Saddam Hussein this week, who would it be next week. In order to grapple with the problem of terrorism, the world powers had to take a grip on the Israeli-Palestinian situation which was a running sore.
Now that war had started it was important to get it over as quickly as possible. If permitting the use of Shannon helped in that regard, it was, in his view, a reasonable moral course to pursue, said Dr Hayes.
Replying to the debate on the motion, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, said he agreed with those who had made the point that all wars were brutal and cruel affairs and this war was no exception.
Dr Martin Mansergh (FF) said that although he believed the decision to allow the continued use of facilities at Shannon was correct in the circumstances, it stretched our military neutrality close to breaking point. "It's not one that we're comfortable with."
Dr Mansergh said his problem would not be so much with American hegemony. It would be far more to do with the use to which that hegemony was put.
There could be more positive times ahead if America, now more than in the past, helped to curtail military dictatorships which impoverished and enslaved their peoples, he added.