Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley, to the House. I appreciate and acknowledge the fact that the Minister for Foreign Affairs is otherwise engaged on very important matters of state on which all of us in this House wish him and the Government well as they pursue a resolution of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

ln the context of this resolution I think it timely to raise this matter as the high level report on UN reform was published last week. I appreciate the Government had an opportunity to set down its position in the other House and there was a debate on the matter. However, this House which has a long tradition of highlighting issues relating to Ireland's international participation in institutions worldwide, should also have an opportunity to hear the Government's position on the high level report.

I was struck by the phrase in the report in which the panel stated that any reform should increase the involvement of those who contribute most to the UN financially, militarily and diplomatically and make it more representative of the broader membership especially of the developing world. Reforms should also increase the democratic and accountable nature of the body but should not impair the effectiveness of the Security Council. This was published in The Financial Times of Thursday, 2 December 2004 and encapsulates the challenges now facing the UN as a body and Ireland in particular.

Ireland's illustrious history of active participation and support for the United Nations as a body and its membership of the Security Council at critical times in the recent past places it in the centre of the reform initiative. Two models are being proposed and I wish to deal with the second. It would create no permanent seats but would establish a new category of eight four-year renewable term seats which would be shared equally between Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Germany and Japan opposed this idea. They are in favour of the first model which is to create two new rotating seats and six permanent seats without a veto.

Ireland should be central to these debates and discussions because it fulfils all those criteria. We have been committed militarily, financially and diplomatically. I therefore urge the Government to pursue every avenue to ensure Ireland's support for the UN in difficult times would be acknowledged in some practical and effective way.

The report refers to the impairment of the effectiveness of the Security Council. This is having a direct effect on Ireland's international obligations, especially within the European context where the trend is now towards regional solutions to regional conflicts under the UN mandate. The best example is one that has been touted on a number of occasions in the past. When the situation in Macedonia flared within the last two years, the UN and the sentiment of the UN Security Council was towards a UN involvement. China vetoed a UN resolution to provide that mandate because Macedonia had recognised Taiwan, the separate existence of which is opposed by China. Under the triple lock mechanism, Ireland could not participate in that force.

Sweden is a non-aligned country, as distinct from a neutral country, and was able to participate. I recently visited Stockholm and met officials from the Swedish Department of Defence as part of a British-Irish interparliamentary report on the common defence policy implications for Britain and Ireland. They indicated that Sweden sent a force because it interpreted the sentiment of the UN as a body and it wished to be involved. I do not propose nor do I wish to have my remarks interpreted as in any way diluting the triple lock mechanism as it currently operates. That is something for a future debate.

My motion was tabled to provide an opportunity for the Government to outline its views on the reform plan and where it sees the way forward. Unless there is reform of the Security Council, the manner in which it operates and the mechanisms for decision-making, I am firmly of the opinion that the UN as a credible international body will have its reputation severely diminished. Ireland and many other EU countries understand and appreciate this situation. It is a very important issue for this country's international policy position because we are strong supporters of the UN. There has been much criticism by people on all sides of the House about Ireland's provision of fuelling and landing rights at Shannon Airport. Ireland has always operated under a UN mandate. In that context I believe this debate is only beginning. I am anxious to ensure that a wider public debate takes place on what is a long overdue and effective reform of the Security Council and of the UN as a body.