Government publishes treaties with US

THE Department of Foreign Affairs last night published two defence agreements between Ireland and the United States, after admitting it failed to lay them before the Dáil contrary to long-established practice.

The decision by Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern to publish the agreements on the web was designed to show there was nothing underhand or secret about the agreements, one made in January 2003 (two months before the invasion of Iraq), the other in February 2004.

Labour Party foreign affairs spokesman Michael D Higgins revealed the existence of the two treaties yesterday when he called on Mr Ahern to explain why they had never been laid before the Dáil.