Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [48037/22]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [49950/22]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [51711/22]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [51714/22]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [51717/22]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [52020/22]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [52029/22]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent attendance at the UN General Assembly. [53551/22]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 8 together.

I visited New York for UN high-level week from 21 September to 23 September. While there, in addition to delivering Ireland's national statement, I had the opportunity to engage with a number of other leaders in round-table discussions, at bilateral meetings and in the margins. I had formal bilateral meetings with the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres; the President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kõrösi; the President of Nigeria; the Vice President of Uganda; and the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands.

I participated in a round-table discussion on prospects for the Sahel region, convened by the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres, and attended by regional states and organisations, as well as by members of the UN Security Council. I also participated in a sustainable development goals-related event on the implementation of the UN global accelerator on jobs and social protection, convened by Mr. Guterres and the Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr. Alexander De Croo. I took part in a panel discussion on jobs and social protection to recover from overlapping crises. This was alongside Vice President Alupo and facilitated by Mr. Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme, who delivered a keynote address. I also attended a forum of small states reception, hosted by Singapore.

In my statement to the General Assembly, I said that all countries, no matter how small, have a contribution to make to international peace and security and to economic and social development and that all people have the right to live in dignity and have their human rights and fundamental freedoms respected. I noted, however, that this is not the case for those currently facing hunger and food insecurity, nor is it the case for those in Ukraine who are being bombarded by Russian missiles and for many people in Syria, Afghanistan or Palestine. I spoke also of the devastating impacts of climate change, which often affects most those who bear least responsibility for its causes. I cautioned that despite these challenges and their scale, we must not lose faith in the UN or protections that a rules-based international order, for all its shortcomings, provides. I highlighted the successes that Ireland has achieved working with partners during its current term on the Security Council – for instance, in terms of humanitarian access to Syria and on ensuring the role of women as peace-builders and agents of change is at the heart of UN peacekeeping and political missions across the globe.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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When speaking at last month's General Assembly, the Taoiseach acknowledged in his remarks that Israeli settlements are a clear violation of international law, that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is untenable and that the global community cannot become inured to it. At least five Palestinians were killed yesterday and 21 wounded in the occupied West Bank after a wave of Israeli forces entered Nablus. Civilians have described the city as a scene from hell. Last week, a dozen Israeli soldiers raided a Palestinian home in East Jerusalem to arrest a 16-year-old child, Shadi Khoury. The soldiers beat him so badly that there was a trail of blood left outside the family home as they dragged him from it blindfolded and barefoot. He continues to be held without charge. Shadi's classmates held a vigil for him yesterday, calling for his release. As Ms Diana Buttu has observed, the international community seems to have a fiction that there is somehow Israel and also the settlements, as though they were separate one another. In reality, they are one. This week, a committed settler was appointed army chief in the occupied West Bank, which will serve only to underpin the long-voiced concerns about collaboration between the Israeli army and settlers in attacks against Palestinians. The normal rhetoric and controlled condemnation of this has to stop. There has to be robust action to hold Israel to account. What is the Government going to do to support and champion the occupied territories Bill?

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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The world is in a very difficult and dangerous place at this time. There are numerous conflicts taking place, including the war in Ukraine. Climate change is now a reality in many countries. Conflict and climate change together have brought about famines and droughts, unprecedented world hunger and food insecurity. As if these were not enough, we are now witnessing the decline in democratic values throughout the world. During our two years on the UN Security Council, we rightly kept the focus on the effects of global warming on developing countries and how it creates even more conflict. The Taoiseach said as much in his address to the UN last month. He also correctly labelled Russia as a rogue state. In his contribution just now, he said we cannot lose faith in the UN. He referred to perceived shortcomings. How does he perceive the UN to be working in 2022? Is Russia's ability to veto UN resolutions a serious weakness? Is the UN, therefore, in need of reform to protect the rules-based international order? What else can be done to support the UN in its important work?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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This morning Israeli forces raided several areas in the occupied West Bank. Six more Palestinians were killed and 21 were wounded. This is just a small part of a much more general escalation by Israel, with raids in Jenin and Nablus and blockades of whole communities. Many young people have been shot. There is also an ongoing attempt at ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. Amnesty International produced a report this week that accuses Israel of having committed war crimes earlier this year in Gaza. The Taoiseach did mention these incidents in his UN Assembly speech but without making the assertive calls for action or sanctions that he directs towards Putin's bloody invasion of Ukraine. Can he possibly explain the inconsistency in standards and approach when it comes to the ongoing crimes against humanity, war crimes, illegal occupation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid practices that Israel perpetrates day in, day out, blatantly unapologetically and in respect of which no action is ever taken by the EU?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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I met with aid agencies recently, who are warning that a devastating famine on a scale not seen since Somalia in 1992 when up to 300,000 people died is now imminent in the Horn of Africa. Already, hundreds of thousands of women and children have been forced from their homes and are gathering in large camps where supplies, including water, are expensive and increasingly scarce. These are climate refugee camps. The coming famine is almost entirely caused by climate change, with rains failing for the fifth season in a row and the sixth rainy season not looking much better. When is Ireland finally going to take meaningful action on climate at home and to push for other countries to do so abroad? Will the Irish Government push for a meaningful fund for finance for loss and damage for developing countries to be included in the final agreement at COP27? That will be 31 years after such a fund was first promised by rich countries during the Paris negotiations. Will Ireland join Scotland, Denmark and Wallonia in beginning to pay for loss and damage?

Research by Oxfam has shown that the profits of just six fossil fuel companies in the first six months of this year would more than cover the cost of major extreme weather and climate-related events in developing countries and still leave them with $70 billion in profits, yet they are being asked to pay nothing for loss and damage they are causing to the 40% of humanity living in the global south.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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There are 60,000 political prisoners behind bars in Egypt. One of them, Abd el-Fattah, whose collection of prison writings was published earlier this year, has been on a 100 calories per day hunger strike since the start of April. The Egyptian dictatorship, having organised a military coup in 2013, now wants to organise a greenwashing publicity coup in 2022 by hosting the United Nations climate change conference, COP27. It is due to start on 6 November. Egyptian NGOs that have criticised the regime's record on the environment have been harassed, spied on and filtered out of the conference. Has the Government raised any objections to the location for COP27, and has it made the release of Egypt's political prisoners a serious issue in any fashion in the run-up to this conference? If not, why not?

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Taoiseach for updating us on his speech to the UN General Assembly. I know he raised the plight of Palestine. I also want to raise with him the ongoing situation in Palestine where we are seeing a very serious escalation of violence by Israel as part of a month-long military campaign in the northern part of the West Bank with more than 100 Palestinians killed so far this year. This intensification of violence is deeply distressing to see. Does Ireland intend to raise this further at the Security Council? I know the Taoiseach raised it at the UN, but how can we use our position on the UN Security Council to highlight and put the spotlight on the appalling treatment of Palestinians by Israel?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Brady raised the issue of Palestine, as did a number of Deputies. Deputy Boyd Barrett said that I mentioned Palestine. I did more than mention it. I did not pull any punches in respect of Palestine in my speech, and I laid the blame where it clearly lay. I stated unequivocally the illegal nature of the settlements. I was very clear about it in my speech, as I was in condemning Russia. I am not into whataboutery. I will say if something is wrong in any given location. What is going on in Palestine is wrong. I have said this repeatedly. The Irish Government has said that a two-state solution is the only solution.

I know Deputy Brady's party has had a lot of engagement in America. The party has visited Senator Schumer and others and it has a lot of connections with influential congressmen. I do not know if they have ever raised the Palestinian issue with their American interlocutors, but I think they should. I would be interested to hear what their sense is of the position of the United States in terms of the congressmen and women that they meet.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I am more concerned about what the Taoiseach has to say.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am interested in it. I think Sinn Féin should be consistent and when party members raise it here, they should also raise it when they go abroad on their fundraising missions in America when they meet Senator Schumer and pose for photographs with senior American politicians. I often wonder if they ever raise the issue of Palestine with them. I think that is a fair point at this stage.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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We continually raise it here but get no answers.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin consistently attacks me but the Irish Government has been very responsive on Palestine.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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What action?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We are one of the largest contributors to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, on a repeated basis, which assists both Gaza and Palestine. We have raised it. UN Secretary General Guterres has praised Ireland. He pulled me aside at a European Council meeting to thank Ireland for its assertiveness on the Security Council in respect of the Middle East and Palestine. It is very easy to come in here and throw cheap shots at the Government's position. We have been very consistent over the last number of decades. We are one of the few countries in the European Union that has asserted itself in respect of this issue and taken a lot of criticism for so doing, might I add, from different quarters. That is the reason I put the point to the Deputy. He needs to let us know what feedback his party is getting from the people they are meeting with and if they raise it with them at all. I never get any feedback on that.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised that issue as well, including Nablus and so forth. I met with Mahmoud Abbas recently. I also met with the Palestinian Prime Minister in London, coincidentally, as we were going to the Queen's funeral. In my view there is an absolute need to stop the settlements and for a genuine peace process between Israel and Palestine but there is a need for reform within Palestine as well. We need elections within the West Bank and Gaza. There has not been an election to the authority in 15 years or more. That is not satisfactory either. We made these points. We need to continue to support the Palestinian Authority, resource-wise, so that it can administer services to its people. Ultimately, the only way out of this endless saga is to try to get a two-state solution in place.

I do not think that in any way invalidates our condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Deputy Boyd Barrett seemed to suggest. What is going on in Ukraine is beyond condemnation at this stage. It is incredible inhumanity, in particular the drone attacks on civilian targets and energy security. Putin basically wants to make life in Ukraine uninhabitable. I have not seen the scale of what he is doing anywhere in modern times, bar what happened in Syria and, again, he himself did that.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Or Iraq.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not justify what happened in Iraq either, but what is happening now in Ukraine-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Or Yemen maybe.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----is a reckless, illegal, immoral invasion of a neighbouring state. The stock response of the Deputies is to ask what about this and what about that. Can they not very straightforwardly condemn Russia?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We do.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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We do all the time. The Taoiseach can put that on the record. We condemn Russia.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Murphy raised the financing of climate change. Again, Ireland has been to the fore in respect of the global financing of countries in particular those that need supports. We have been very strong on helping small island states, for example, and their need for adaptation in respect of climate change and how it will impact on them immediately.

We pushed very strongly at COP26 for an agreement and we increased our own contribution to global financing in respect of climate change. Again at the Security Council, in relation to famine, I reference the work of our diplomats. They are a young team but they are an exceptional team representing our country. They were instrumental in maintaining the humanitarian corridor in Syria, which we got passed at the Security Council, despite Russia's reluctance. That ensures food for millions of people in Syria. In Ethiopia, the government reduced the number of our diplomats at the embassy in Addis Ababa because of our stance at the Security Council in respect of the war in Ethiopia. They did not like Ireland standing up and assertively saying what should happen. We called for a proper peace process and we called for engagement, but that was frowned upon, with the result that our embassy was reduced in numbers. Ireland has been very effective at the Security Council and we have taken strong stances from a humanitarian perspective. During our term, in particular, we pushed the role of women in conflict in all of the areas such as Afghanistan and right around the world. We pointed to the example of significant women involved in reconciliation in Colombia and elsewhere. We invited them before the Security Council to make presentations.

Deputy Haughey raised the important issue of reform. In my view, the United Nations does need reform. The fact that one of the five members that hold the veto could engage in this kind of wanton destruction of a neighbouring state calls into question the membership of the Security Council, particularly the permanent five, and it injures and undermines the effectiveness and the capacity of the council. It is in need of urgent reform, and we consistently work on that in terms of broadening the Security Council and its membership into the future. It should reflect modern-day realities in terms of demographics and how the world has evolved.

Meanwhile, we continue to work with the UN Secretary General. It should be recognised that he has been effective in the work he did on the Black Sea grain initiative, which has done a lot of work to prevent hunger and famine in Africa and the Middle East. It is imperative that that Black Sea grain initiative is renewed to prevent further hunger across the board.