Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 13, inclusive, together.

I met with United Nations Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon for a courtesy call on 26 May. Mr. Ban was in Ireland to receive the Tipperary International Peace Award. I was delighted that his visit took place in the year that we mark the 60th anniversary of Ireland's membership of the United Nations, as well as the 70th anniversary of the UN's establishment. The Secretary General and I had wide-ranging discussions in which we discussed some of the key issues facing the United Nations and the role that Ireland is playing to support UN initiatives. The Secretary General paid tribute to Ireland’s commitment to the UN and he praised, in particular, our long-standing participation in UN peacekeeping operations. We spoke of Ireland's continued engagement on global hunger issues, including with the Zero Hunger initiative. I raised with the Secretary General the enhanced contribution which Ireland and Irish agribusiness could make in the field of milk processing technology to address food insecurity and malnutrition.

We discussed the role that Ireland was playing at the time of the meeting as co-facilitator of the post-2015 development agenda negotiations. As the House is aware, the product of these negotiations were the new UN sustainable development goals.

These were launched at the UN sustainable development summit in New York in September 2015, the largest gathering of world leaders in the history of the United Nations. The drafting of this document, accepted by many nations, was in the main the work of Ambassador Donoghue, the Irish ambassador to the UN, together with his Kenyan counterpart, and we owe them our congratulations. Secretary General Ban and I also discussed the need for UN member states to continue to provide appropriate levels of overseas development aid. This issue was subsequently addressed at July’s Addis Ababa conference on financing for development, at which Ireland was represented by the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock.

My meeting with the Secretary General took place shortly after the historic vote in the same-sex marriage referendum and we discussed the importance of supporting LGBT rights in the domestic and international context. On this point, the Secretary General and I were in agreement that prejudice and discrimination against the LGBT community must be tackled at every opportunity and that Ireland would continue to support the work of the UN Human Rights Council and other fora to combat homophobia.

On Syria, we spoke of the ongoing migration crisis and of the need to find an agreed approach at EU level to address the problem effectively. The Secretary General was complimentary of the compassionate approach that Ireland has taken towards resettling refugees. As we all know, the situation within Syria and with regard to migration has deteriorated since May, but our commitment to finding a suitable resolution and providing support to those affected by the crisis has not diminished.

With regard to climate change, the Secretary General expressed his appreciation for the position taken by the EU in the negotiations which, it is hoped, will lead to a global agreement at the forthcoming COP21 conference in Paris in December. I underlined Ireland’s commitment to an ambitious and legally binding agreement. Overall, this was a very useful opportunity to engage with the Secretary General on a range of issues of mutual concern.

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