Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I think I am right in saying that approximately 17 million people now live in refugee camps throughout the world. It is a higher figure than ever before. When we think about the scale of this and the commonality in terms of causes of conflict, tension and people being driven from their homes we begin to realise that most of the problems that drive mass migration are man made or linked to the actions of men or states.

There is a significant amount of work for the UN to do. I am really looking forward to Ireland actually taking responsibility on the UN Security Council from 1 January next year. We will certainly be focusing our efforts on peacekeeping but also on conflict prevention, as well as holding countries and state actors to account for the kind of actions that often lead to driving large numbers of people out of their homes and often out of their countries.

See this speech in context