The chairman of the Irish anti war movement, Richard Boyd Barrett, said the kind of protest which took place in Ireland this weekend was certainly having an impact on US policy.
He said it was unlikely that the searching questions now being asked by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair of George Bush about the war in Iraq would be asked except for the fact that the hundreds of thousands of people were taking to the streets in anti war demonstrations and forcing the question of Iraq back onto the top of the agenda time and time again.
He said the demonstrations in Clare today were an outstanding success and showed the depth of feeling of Irish people against the continuing US presence in Iraq and George Bush's foreign policy.
The Shannon protest has now ended; the gardai say it has passed off without any incident.
1,000 protesters march near Castle
About 1,000 people took part in a protest march near the venue of the talks.
The marchers, who were demonstrating against the war in Iraq, were allowed tp approach within half a mile of Dromoland Castle.
A large force of gardaí accompanied the protest.
The marchers joined up with another protest starting from Bunratty at the entrance to Shannon Airport, where the protesters mounted a demonstration to coincide with Mr Bush's departure to Turkey to meet other NATO leaders.
This morning, gardaí said that the series of demonstrations held yesterday passed off peacefully.
