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

I assure the Deputy that we do not have a policy of outsourcing at all. We are probably the most vocal small country on the planet when it comes to foreign policy. I challenge the Deputy to name a small country that is more vocal than Ireland is on many of the key issues at the moment. We are about to take over the chair of the Council of Europe for the next six months. We are on the Security Council and an extremely active member in the EU. We are vocal on almost all the UN panels and organisations. If the Deputy is seeking examples of where Ireland has made an impact, he can take that of Ethiopia. Effectively, Ireland was the penholder on that file on the Security Council, ensuring that others noticed the extraordinary events that were happening in Ethiopia last year in terms of violence and a civil war that was developing there. In respect of Afghanistan, we have been, and continue to be, extremely vocal on women, peace and security issues. We were extremely active in trying to assist many journalists to get out of Afghanistan and come to Ireland. We work directly on getting humanitarian assistance into north-west Syria. We are working with Norway on that and hold that file. Of course, we almost got the first ever resolution on climate and security agreed on the Security Council. We got a massive endorsement at the UN General Assembly, with 119 countries co-sponsoring that Irish resolution. To be clear, we are busy, active and impactful.

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