Ahern accused of belated policy on US pre-emptive strike on Iraq

TAOISEACH BERTIE AHERN was accused yesterday of belatedly adopting a position against the US pre-emptive strike on Iraq six months after the US invasion occurred.

In the first exchanges of the new Dáil term, opposition leaders focused on the Taoiseach's address to the United Nations last week, in which he said that Ireland would have deep concerns about the widespread acceptance of pre-emptive strikes.

The main opposition leaders, Enda Kenny of Fine Gael and Pat Rabbitte of Labour, charged that the Taoiseach was now adopting a position that he had failed to articulate in the run-up to or during the war.