The Labour Party foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Michael D. Higgins TD, has stressed his opposition to the military campaign in Afghanistan, following some confusion over his stance.
As reported in this column last week, Mr Higgins and his family attended a recent anti-war candle-lit vigil in Galway. In the same week, he issued a statement calling for a pause in the bombing of Afghanistan to allow humanitarian aid to get through.
Mr Higgins contacted Out of the West to clarify the situation. He says his use of the word "pause" in the statement may have been misinterpreted. He points out that it was one of a series of statements he has issued in recent weeks.
The Galway West TD is utterly opposed to what he describes as the "rush to militarism" and concurs with the views expressed by the director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway, Prof William Schabas, in relation to the illegality of a military response.
Prof Schabas is one of the speakers at a public meeting being held later this week by the Galway Alliance Against War.
Also invited to speak is Mr Denis Halliday, the former United Nations assistant secretary-general who resigned from the organisation in 1998 in protest at the impact of the UN embargo on the people of Iraq. The meeting takes place at 8 p.m. on October 25th in the Corrib Great Southern Hotel.
On October 13th, a memorial mass for a Galway woman who died in the attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11th was held in Tuam Cathedral.
Many tributes were paid to Anne Marie McHugh at the service, which was attended by members of her family and her fiancΘ, Mr Patrick Day. The couple were due to marry in Italy next month.