The Taoiseach said he had urged President Bush and Mr Tony Blair to take every possible step to avoid civilian casualties, and do what they could to ensure humanitarian issues were addressed in the war on Iraq.
Mr Ahern, who was replying to Opposition questions on developments in Hillsborough on Tuesday, added that he had also expressed the major concern of people about civilian casualties.
"They stated they have been making every effort in this war to keep civilian casualties to the lowest number possible," said Mr Ahern. "That is their position. I emphasised the immediate need to provide urgent treatment and care for the casualties of war. The situation in the hospitals in Iraq is dire, and that is the word I used." He had urged the President and the Prime Minister to provide field hospitals for the injured to supplement local hospitals.
President Bush, Mr Ahern added, had said he thought it was a good idea. "He would relay it to the appropriate people."
The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, asked what the Taoiseach had meant in reply to a question from The Irish Times on Tuesday if he would accede to a Labour Party call on him to tell President Bush that the Irish people saw the war as illegal. Mr Ahern, he said, remarked he had said from the outset he would be saying that and there was no need for people to remind him.
"The Taoiseach sent his lawyers into court yesterday in the case before the High Court to say the opposite," said Mr Rabbitte. "Which is it ?"
Mr Ahern said his position had not changed on the legitimacy of the war. "The position was not agreed in the Security Council and until an international body or the UN calls the war illegal, my position is that I am not calling the war illegal. It has its own difficulties because of what happened in the UN but that position remains the same." Mr Ahern added that the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, had said the Security Council would mandate a UN role post-conflict.
Replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach said Mr Annan had observed that the issue of political facilitation, leading to an interim administration, was an area in which the UN had considerable expertise. "He feels the best way to do this would be to adhere to the Afghanistan model. The UN has worked in partnership with many countries involved in Afghanistan. That is the preferred option. The UN does not wish to take over the entire operation on day one because it does not think that is feasible. It wants to work in partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom."
