Firstly, allow me to express my thanks to the Royal Irish Academy for organising this event and inviting me to be here.
Through its promotion of studies in the sciences, humanities and social sciences, and its long-standing contribution to public debate, the RIA has played an invaluable role in the development of modern Ireland.
I am delighted to be speaking today about the UN Security Council and Ireland’s term as an elected member from 2021 to 2022; a term which has coincided with the centenary of our independence, allowing us to reflect proudly the principles and ideals articulated 100 years ago when we were the newest member of the League of Nations.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
We have just over a month left on the Security Council.
There is a lot of important work over the next five weeks, and Ireland will continue to be an active and vocal member until the very end of our term.
Today’s event however provides a good opportunity to reflect on what Security Council membership has meant for Ireland, and to explore some of our work and achievements to date.
In January of last year, shortly after we took up our seat, I spoke at an event like this, setting out the principles that would guide our work on the Council.
Those principles, agreed by the government following our election by the UN General Assembly, were clear:
- to build peace, and to support and improve UN peacekeeping;
- to strengthen conflict prevention, by addressing the factors that cause and drive conflict;
- and to ensure accountability, because those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law cannot be allowed to enjoy impunity.
Above all, we wanted to help the Security Council fulfil its critically important mandate, as laid out in the UN Charter: the maintenance of international peace and security.
We believed that Ireland, as a small, independent country with a deep and longstanding commitment to the UN, could make a difference.
The members of the General Assembly agreed; and, at the elections in June 2020, they placed their trust in us.
Looking back over the past two years, while I feel frustrated that the Security Council has been unable to do more on certain issues, including Ukraine, I feel a great sense of pride at what Ireland has achieved as an elected member.
On joining the Council, for example, we took on the role of co-penholder for the Syria Humanitarian file, working in partnership with Norway.
We volunteered for this role because we recognised the critical importance of the Security Council-mandated cross-border mechanism, which provides lifesaving aid to over four million people in the North West of the country. Our role as co-penholder required us to make sure that this critical mechanism could continue.
We knew that this would not be easy. For over a decade, the people of Syria have seen their country torn apart by an appalling conflict. The permanent members of the Council are deeply divided on the issue. The prospects for a renewal of the mechanism were not good.
But we believed that we could succeed, by focusing on the concrete realities of the humanitarian situation on the ground.
And through patient and careful diplomacy, working with Norway, we managed to broker an agreement that was acceptable for all, and to keep the life-saving aid operation running.
During our time on the Council, it has twice renewed the UN cross-border operation.
This has had real, tangible results for millions of vulnerable people.
We will work until the very end of our term to help to keep that critical lifeline open...
Through its promotion of studies in the sciences, humanities and social sciences, and its long-standing contribution to public debate, the RIA has played an invaluable role in the development of modern Ireland.
I am delighted to be speaking today about the UN Security Council and Ireland’s term as an elected member from 2021 to 2022; a term which has coincided with the centenary of our independence, allowing us to reflect proudly the principles and ideals articulated 100 years ago when we were the newest member of the League of Nations.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
We have just over a month left on the Security Council.
There is a lot of important work over the next five weeks, and Ireland will continue to be an active and vocal member until the very end of our term.
Today’s event however provides a good opportunity to reflect on what Security Council membership has meant for Ireland, and to explore some of our work and achievements to date.
In January of last year, shortly after we took up our seat, I spoke at an event like this, setting out the principles that would guide our work on the Council.
Those principles, agreed by the government following our election by the UN General Assembly, were clear:
- to build peace, and to support and improve UN peacekeeping;
- to strengthen conflict prevention, by addressing the factors that cause and drive conflict;
- and to ensure accountability, because those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law cannot be allowed to enjoy impunity.
Above all, we wanted to help the Security Council fulfil its critically important mandate, as laid out in the UN Charter: the maintenance of international peace and security.
We believed that Ireland, as a small, independent country with a deep and longstanding commitment to the UN, could make a difference.
The members of the General Assembly agreed; and, at the elections in June 2020, they placed their trust in us.
Looking back over the past two years, while I feel frustrated that the Security Council has been unable to do more on certain issues, including Ukraine, I feel a great sense of pride at what Ireland has achieved as an elected member.
On joining the Council, for example, we took on the role of co-penholder for the Syria Humanitarian file, working in partnership with Norway.
We volunteered for this role because we recognised the critical importance of the Security Council-mandated cross-border mechanism, which provides lifesaving aid to over four million people in the North West of the country. Our role as co-penholder required us to make sure that this critical mechanism could continue.
We knew that this would not be easy. For over a decade, the people of Syria have seen their country torn apart by an appalling conflict. The permanent members of the Council are deeply divided on the issue. The prospects for a renewal of the mechanism were not good.
But we believed that we could succeed, by focusing on the concrete realities of the humanitarian situation on the ground.
And through patient and careful diplomacy, working with Norway, we managed to broker an agreement that was acceptable for all, and to keep the life-saving aid operation running.
During our time on the Council, it has twice renewed the UN cross-border operation.
This has had real, tangible results for millions of vulnerable people.
We will work until the very end of our term to help to keep that critical lifeline open...
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