Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Defence if he will clarify recent comments attributed to him (details supplied) that he has been informed by senior figures in Brussels that the UN intends to introduce reforms that may lead to the speedier agreements of UN Security Council resolutions in crisis situations; the details of the reforms of which he has been informed; the persons who informed of these reforms. [6697/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The comments attributed to me were made consequent to the publishing of the UN's Report of the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, which issued on 2 December 2004. I refer Deputies to the reply to Question No. 173 given by my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to this House on 2 February.

Briefly, the background is that the high level panel was established in November 2003 by the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to examine how best collective action can meet current and future threats to peace and security. Specifically, the panel was tasked with analysing current and future challenges to international peace and security and assessing how best collective action can meet these challenges. It was asked to recommend changes necessary to ensure effective collective action, including but not limited to a review of the principal organs of the United Nations.

A central priority of Ireland's Presidency of the European Union was to mobilise EU support for the multilateral system and the United Nations. Ireland drafted and co-ordinated the EU's contribution to the work of the panel, and it is gratifying that many of its key elements are reflected in the panel's recommendations.

At the UN next September, Heads of State and Government will seek to reach agreement on reforms, including institutional reforms, to improve the functioning and effectiveness of the UN system.

At the end of next month, Secretary General Annan, having reflected on the panel's recommendations and the reaction to them will bring forward some core proposals of his own to act as a basis for agreement on a balanced outcome at the September summit.

In publicly welcoming the report of the panel in December, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said that it made a compelling case for the multilateral system as the best way for all states, working together, to confront threats and challenges to security and development in today's world.

From Ireland's perspective, the report contains two critically important elements. First, it makes the case, convincingly, for a new, more comprehensive approach to security, making it clear that effective collective security demands that we address poverty, disease and underdevelopment as well as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. This reflects the central premise of the EU's contribution to the work of the panel: there can be no hierarchy of threats.

Second, the report makes a number of specific recommendations for the prevention of threats, including terrorism, poverty, internal conflict and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as on the institutional reform of the UN. Many of these are sound and constructive, and worthy of support. A particular emphasis of the panel, which Ireland strongly endorses, is the need for sustained, co-ordinated multilateral support for peace-building in countries emerging from conflict and at risk of sliding back into conflict.

Ireland also welcomes the impetus the report has given to consideration of reform of UN institutions, including the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as the proposal for the establishment of a peacebuilding commission. The Deputy may be assured that the promotion of support for a positive outcome at the September summit is an important priority of the Government.