Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My Department's commitment to international peace, security and human rights is channelled through programme D, which has a total budget of more than €70 million. Of this, almost €42 million is in the form of contributions to international organisations such as the United Nations, including funding in support of peacekeeping operations. Following our successful chairmanship of the OSCE in 2012 we are continuing our close engagement with the organisation. This year we are part of the OSCE troika along with Switzerland and the Ukraine. We have had a highly visible and active six months as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, at which EU-led resolutions were adopted on Myanmar-Burma, North Korea, Belarus, the rights of the child and freedom of religion or belief. While chairing the EU Presidency Ireland led on all of these resolutions at the Human Rights Council.

Our EU Presidency teams in Dublin and Brussels put in a remarkable effort on EU common foreign and security policy matters. The work included hosting many high level and working group meetings in Dublin, including the informal Foreign Affairs Council in Dublin Castle in March. We continue to engage closely with the United Nations and to maintain a high profile in targeted policy areas such as the millennium development goals, disarmament and UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which the committee has discussed already today. In recognition of the progressive role we play at the United Nations, our permanent representative at the United Nations in New York has been asked to act as co-facilitator of a millennium development goals summit in September.