Ms Mary Van Lieshout:

If I may, I will take up the Deputy's question on the UN Security Council, such as I can. All of us involved in watching the Security Council and involved in watching Ireland's promise when it was running for election to the council have been immensely proud and gratified for the leadership. Ms Byrne Nason is a formidable leader, but she has a team of people around her who are extremely well prepared before the meetings. I sit for GOAL on the UN Security Council stakeholders' advisory committee, which was established by the Institute of International and European Affairs, IIEA. A number of agencies sit together and we are regularly briefed on the agenda.

This has been a very difficult period for anyone newly elected to the Security Council. You need only look at the conflicts around the world, such as the situations in Ethiopia and Ukraine. Some of the real legacy of the Irish contribution will be in the context of significant accomplishments. One of them was a resolution recently on managing the transition out of conflict of UN peacekeeping forces. That is a very fragile time for any community. A community has become comfortable with the safety and protection of UN forces and when it is deemed safe enough for those forces to depart that is a frightening moment for many communities. Ireland has played a strong leadership role in ensuring there are strong protocols and procedures managing those withdrawals, so the community is safe. It is untold how much benefit that will be to poor communities that are very frightened following conflict.

Other significant achievements include the resolution on the cross-border access of humanitarian goods into Syria. Last year, Ireland was the pen-holder on that resolution. It had to be one of the most difficult conversations, yet this year it is made all the more difficult by the conflict in Ukraine, such are the politics of that discussion. We are talking about accessing the community of north-west Syria with humanitarian goods over the border from Turkey. There will be another vote on whether that access will continue or be discontinued. That vote happens annually. This year it is a very difficult vote but last year Ireland managed it with a strong political nous and very sophisticated behind-the-scenes negotiations trying to depolarise the conversation. That will be a legacy to the people of Syria of which Ireland can be proud.

Among many other contributions, a final contribution that will stand to Ireland was some work it did with Niger on climate change, the environment and conflict. While the resolution did not pass because of the politics at the Security Council - we have seen it, so we cannot always be surprised by that - Ireland managed to build a solid consensus, knowledge, awareness and support across the general membership on the understanding of the interaction between conflict and the environment. Mr. Sadlier has described some of it, including significant development gains being lost to environmental damage. Ireland worked with Niger quietly and behind the scenes on something that has not captured media attention as a great success, but it is the consensus behind the issue now that will be Ireland's legacy.

These are just a few contributions that should give us all the great pride that the Chairman has expressed. Ireland's tenure is not over yet, but the legacy of the past two years will be rich and something we will be proud of for many years to come.

I will hand over to Mr. Sadlier to discuss some of the on-the-ground work the Chairman has mentioned.