- Press Statement 24/4/07
The Peace & Neutrality Alliance commissioned Lansdowne Market Research Ltd to conduct a national survey of a representative sample of the Irish people on their attitude towards the use of Shannon Airport in the Iraq war.
They were asked; "Are you in favour of, or opposed to the use of Shannon Airport by US troops travelling to and from Iraq?"
Their response was as follows
- In Favour: 19%
- Opposed: 58%
- No opinion: 21%
- Don't know: 2%
A detailed breakdown is available on request.
The Chair of the Peace & Neutrality Alliance, Roger Cole in response to the
survey said:
"PANA welcomes the results of this survey. PANA which helped to organise the massive demonstration against the war on Iraq and the Ahern FF/PD governments support for the war by destroying Irish/neutrality, on the 15/3/03 accepts that the numbers turning out on ant-war demonstrations since then has fallen dramatically.
PANA however believed this reflected people's belief that there was little point in taking part and not their opposition to the war. These results show that the massive majority of the Irish people oppose the use of Shannon and that the Ahern Government does not have a democratic mandate in its policy to support the war and destroy Irish neutrality. PANA seeks to make the the use of Shannon Airport in the war an issue in the election.
Since other polls show that it is unlikely that the current war parties of FF and the PD's will return to power without the support of either the Labour Party, the Green Party or Sinn Fein, all of which opposed the war, it seems self evident that the use of Shannon airport in the war, especially now that the number of US troops using it are increasing, is and should be, an election issue."
