The United States military has not been given permission to land at Irish airports for refuelling during any upcoming conflict with Iraq, the Government has insisted.
No decision has been made on the issue, the Department of Foreign Affairs said, and no request has been received from the US authorities.
"You cannot make a judgment until you know what the circumstances are," said an official.
Currently, he said, the Government was attempting at the UN Security Council to ensure that no conflict takes place, and to "resolve the problems" through the UN. "That is where our efforts are devoted. Everything else is just 'whatiffery': what if there is a war, what if there is a UN mandate?" the Foreign Affairs spokesperson told The Irish Times.
He questioned the assumption that a conflict is inevitable. "The mood that is now coming out of London is very much negative. The United States is essentially long-fingering it.
"The Germans are saying that they don't want to know, without a UN mandate."
However, he rejected suggestions that the Government should decide now whether Irish airports would be made available to the US, as happened during the attacks on Afghanistan in the wake of September 11th.
"You can't make judgments until you know the circumstances in which the judgment has to be made. We don't know the parameters. That is the problem with foreign policy. You have to know the parameters.
"Following September 11th, we supported the decision of the UN Security Council and Resolution 1368 which classified terrorism as a threat to international peace and stability.
"Part of that resolution called on states to work together urgently to bring the perpetrators of September 11th to justice as quickly as possible and to support efforts to suppress terrorism," he said.
Under the 1952 Air Navigation Foreign Military Aircraft Act, all foreign military aircraft require the permission of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to overfly, or land in the State. Permission is granted on a case by case basis.
