McGuinness Tells US State Dept to get out of Shannon

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday January 30, 2003 11:50 by Justin Moran - Sinn Fein maigh_nuad at yahoo dot com

McGuinness calls for end to US stopovers after meeting with Haass (From Irish Times)

Sinn Fein MP, Mr Martin McGuinness has called on all political parties to defend the Irish Constitution and not allow US troops use Shannon Airport as a stopover on the way to Iraq.

Mr McGuinness made his comments yesterday after a meeting at the US State Department in Washington with the US envoy to Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass. Asked how he felt about the Ulster Unionist Party's distribution of Sinn Féin anti-Iraq war press releases to key figures in Washington political, diplomatic and media circles, Mr McGuinness said that his party could have little influence over US policy on Iraq and it was not a source of friction with the US administration.

On the subject of stopovers in Shannon, Mr McGuinness said that all Irish parties needed to defend the south's neutrality. "It's my view that the Constitution of the south of Ireland needs to be defended by all political parties," he said.