Denis Halliday

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday February 02, 2003 00:52 by Carolan happybananahead at hotmail dot com

ex-assistant secretary-general and chief relief co-ordinator for Iraq speaks in Limerick

Ex Assistant Secretary-General and Chief Relief Co-ordinator for Iraq speaks in Limerick. Denis Halliday resigned as Relief Co-ordinator because of the continuing embargos on Iraq.

This evening Denis Halliday spoke to a crowd of about 50 at the Quaker meeting house in Limerick. There was a great mix of people there -- there was a group from the peace camp, a group of Quakers, and a lot of people who heard about it by word of mouth.

Denis spoke very well, covering a huge amount in just over an hour. He wasn't just speaking abstractly, but used concrete facts. When he had finished speaking, a lovely Iraqi woman living in Galway (whose name I can't spell, so I'm just going to hope you know who I mean) spoke very emotionally (and briefly).

I think the main message the two speakers were trying to get across is that the Iraqi people need our help, but not charity. They are a rich nation already. What they need is for the embargos to be lifted, and for the threat of war to leave them. The general feeling in Iraq is that Saddam Hussein needs to be removed, but that has to be done by the Iraqi people, not by a foreign power bombing civilians.

Denis took some questions afterwards. He expressed his support for Mary Kelly. He said that he was originally upset by the idea that violence had been used, but now realised that violence against a plane is much better than violence against people.

I travelled from Waterford for this talk, and I'm very glad I did. I'd highly recommend listening to Denis speaking if you get the chance.