Two leading Irish Catholic bishops have called for the withdrawal of the use of Shannon Airport from the US military in the event of war.
The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, and the Bishop of Kerry, Dr Bill Murphy, made their plea ahead of a Dáil vote today on the issue.
The Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, the Right Rev Michael Mayes, also added his voice to opposition to American military aircraft stopping in Shannon Airport.
Dr Walsh said he found it "morally impossible" to justify the use of Shannon Airport by the US military in this war.
As the US prepared to take unilateral action to attack Iraq, Bishop Walsh said he had changed his stance on the use of Shannon Airport, which lies within his diocese of Killaloe.
Dr Walsh said he accepted it was a very difficult position for the Government and the country.
"The United States has been a great friend to Ireland and the last thing they would want is a friend who would renege on them in what they would see as their hour of need
"But I find it impossible to justify the use of Shannon by the US military in this war."
However, he added: "There is no moral justification for this war.
"I have grave difficulty that we would allow Shannon be used by the US military, because this war is going to bring about horrendous consequences."
Bishop Murphy, said the decision-makers in this country should be guided by moral principles in their decision on Shannon Airport in the next days.
"They should be informed by moral principles rather than self-interest.
"Certainly, I would hope the United States will not be allowed the facilities in Shannon.
"I would hope that the decision would be not to make it available," Bishop Murphy said.
He added that there were many Christians in Iraq and appealed to people to contribute as generously as possible to Trócaire and all other such organisations dealing with this "humanitarian disaster" that would accompany a war which now seemed inevitable.
Bishop Murphy has been consistently outspoken against a war in Iraq.
This weekend in a letter of support to anti-war march organizers in Tralee, Co Kerry, he warned that the war would pit the Muslim world against the Christian West and give rise to myriad conflicts.
A war against Iraq "will be perceived by the whole Muslim world as an attack by the Christian West against Islam and will thus give rise to tensions and conflicts between nations, cultures and religions," he said.
Meanwhile, Bishop Michael Mayes said he was opposed to the use of Shannon Airport by the US military because this was a unilateral action and the United Nations route should have been pursued more.
"I believe that this war is unjustified and that we as Christians should voice our opinion against it in every possible peaceful way which is available to us," he added.
In the first two months of this year over 30,000 US troops in 272 aircraft contracted to the US military went through Shannon Airport as the build up to war continued.
In the last few weeks the number of aircraft coming through Shannon Airport has halved from an average of over four aircraft a day to just over two a day.
An Aer Rianta spokesman said yesterday that nine aircraft contracted to the US military have passed through Shannon Airport since last Sunday.