February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Irish diplomats based at the UN in New York had been concerned over the possibility of a split among the 15 members of the council.
But after weeks of argument, a compromise was reached between the U.S. and the other four permanent members of the council, most notably France.
Ireland’s foreign minister, Brian Cowen, was quick to welcome the 15-0 vote.
“Ireland supports this new resolution because it offers the most likely means of achieving the three goals we set ourselves, namely, to obtain Iraq’s compliance with its disarmament obligations, to avoid a military conflict, and to preserve the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security,” Cowen said.
“We took the view that military action against Iraq was not inevitable and that, on the contrary, war could be averted if the Security Council adopted a strong resolution which sends the arms inspectors back into Iraq with a reinforced mandate to complete their work.
“This resolution gives Iraq a final opportunity to comply with the disarmament obligations imposed on it by the Security Council. This is a resolution about disarmament and not about war.”
Cowen said that Ireland wanted the Iraqi authorities to choose the path of peace, to cooperate fully with inspectors, comply with all their other obligations under Security Council resolutions and thereby “allow their country to resume the path of peaceful economic and social development.”
Ireland is currently one of the 10 rotating members of the Security Council and the Irish government has been strongly supportive of a leading role for the council in forcing Iraq to comply with a list of existing U. arms resolutions.
The council vote will now give the Irish government more room to maneuver in the event of a U.S.-led war against Iraq.
U.S. military flights are allowed refuel at Shannon Airport and military flights can fly through Irish airspace on their way to and from the Middle East.
A unilateral action by the U.S. against Iraq would have placed severe pressure on the Irish government to rescind such facilities.