Parliamentarians from five parties took part in a demonstration organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement at Shannon at the weekend to protest against war in Iraq and the use of the airport by the US military.
More than 2,000 demonstrators walked from Shannon town to the airport, chanting anti-war slogans such as, "Hey, hey, USA, how many kids did you kill today?" and "Can you hear us Fianna Fáil? No US bombers on our soil!"
The attendance included Labour TDs Mr Michael D. Higgins, Ms Kathleen Lynch, Ms Jan O'Sullivan and Mr Joe Sherlock with their party colleagues Senators Brendan Ryan and Kathleen O'Meara and Sligo Councillor Declan Bree; Green Party deputies Mr Dan Boyle and Mr John Gormley as well as the Green MEP for Dublin, Ms Patricia McKenna; the Fine Gael MEP Ms Mary Banotti; Sinn Féin TD for Kerry North Mr Martin Ferris and Socialist Party TD Mr Joe Higgins.
Speaking at a rally outside the terminal at Shannon, Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Michael D. Higgins, said it was "very impressive" that so many different groups and organisations were combined in saying No to war.
He criticised those who were "staying silent and by their silence being complicit in, not only the breaking of their own laws, breaking of the Constitution, but they are supporting an outrageous preparation for war against a civilian population".
The Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, said the size of the demonstration on a very wet Saturday afternoon sent out a "very strong" message to the Government about the US military passing through Shannon, which she saw as part of the build-up to war in Iraq.
"What is happening here is going to mean blood on our hands because our Government are facilitating what the US is planning," she said.
Ms McKenna claimed the Government was in breach of the Constitution which stipulated that the State could participate in a war only with the consent of the Dáil. "They are participating in a war very clearly by facilitating the US military at this airport and they have not asked the consent of the Dáil."
Mr Kieran Allen, of the Socialist Workers' Party, said there was a "false debate" about whether President Bush should get the approval of the United Nations for war, or should go it alone instead. "The United Nations will be bullied and bribed by the US."
Addressing "Bertie Ahern and his Government", the Socialist Party TD, Mr Joe Higgins, said: "You are complicit in building up and assisting Bush to launch a war against the people of Iraq. In the event of war, Taoiseach Ahern, your ministers and your Government and the political parties that back you in the Dáil will have the blood of the Iraqi people on your hands every bit as much as Bush or Blair."
Ms Caoimhe Butterly from the Shannon Peace Camp, a group of protesters permanently stationed outside the airport, said she hoped footage of the demonstration would be shown in places like Iraq and the Palestinian territories to show "that where our leaders are failing, that we as human beings with an enormous capacity for strength and love are going to stand by them". She invited participants to join an "Irish peace team" travelling to Baghdad.
The Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, said he had stayed with the peace camp activists the night before and had seen a Hercules plane arriving, "troops landing, battle fatigues, the whole lot". Mr Gormley asked, "How is that compatible with Irish neutrality?"
An Iraqi woman introduced to the crowd as Nuria took the megaphone to the security barrier set up outside the airport terminal and appealed to members of the Garda Síochána to admit her to the building to make a protest.
"As a direct result of Irish collusion, my relatives will die," she said. The crowd chanted "Let her in!" and sat on the ground briefly, but she was not admitted.
The chief organiser of the demonstration, Mr Richard Boyd Barrett of the Irish Anti-War Movement, called for support for a further demonstration in Dublin on February 15th, "to build a protest that this Government cannot ignore".
The Fine Gael MEP, Ms Mary Banotti, told The Irish Times: "I feel very concerned that the Dáil is not being recalled and that the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs went abroad while throughout the country there was growing concern."