Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. Ireland's membership of the United Nations is at the heart of our foreign policy. We take seriously our obligation to translate the values and principles of the UN Charter into action. Ireland has had a long-standing policy of engagement throughout the entirety of the opening of the General Assembly of the United Nations. In practice, this means our seat is occupied for each day of the high-level general debate and for every country's national statement. This demonstrates our commitment to diplomatic engagement and the importance of the United Nations as an institution. This sometimes means listening to viewpoints with which we disagree or where we have a fundamentally different perspective. This is part of the conduct of international relations and our diplomacy at the United Nations. Ireland expresses its views clearly in our statements and in the use of our vote at the United Nations. This has been the consistent policy of previous governments and one that I fully support.

The urgent need to address the conflict in the Middle East remains a priority for Ireland in our work at the UN. This includes ongoing support for efforts to achieve a ceasefire and hostage release deal and ensure the supply of humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza, as well as our efforts to advance the two-state solution. We are also advocating for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and the war there and a de-escalation of tensions across the entire region. I made those points very clearly in my address to the UN Security Council on 25 September. These points were further set out in Ireland's national statement in the UN General Assembly on 30 September.

Fundamentally, if we were to adopt the assertion or the policy the Deputy is suggesting, we would maybe be leaving our seat on more than one occasion. We might be leaving our seat on quite a number of occasions. The policy has been to listen, to argue and debate. Listening does not imply in any way an endorsement of anyone's policies.

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