Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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36. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will report on his attendance and the topics discussed at the United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in London on 8 September 2016. [27133/16]

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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39. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will provide a report on the United Nations peacekeeping conference in London that he recently attended; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27131/16]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 36 and 39 together.

On 8 September 2016, the United Kingdom hosted the United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in London where representatives from some 70 countries and 4 international organisations gathered to discuss United Nations Peacekeeping. I represented Ireland at the conference. I was accompanied by Mr. Maurice Quinn, Secretary General Department of Defence, Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and Mr. John O’Mahony, Assistant Garda Commissioner.

UN Under-Secretaries-General Herve Ladsous (Department of Peacekeeping Operations) and Dr Atul Khare (Department of Field Support) led the UN delegation. The conference was situated as part of the process to reform and improve UN peacekeeping with an emphasis on collective responsibility as a global partnership.

The conference was the largest ever gathering of United Nations Defence Ministers and focused on the commitment of resources to UN peacekeeping, the development of a coherent shared plan for how peacekeeping can play its part in implementing the Women Peace and Security agenda and a number of key challenges facing UN military deployments.

The plenary began with Ministers taking stock of the progress on pledges of military and police capabilities made at the Leaders’ Summit in 2015. They then discussed a range of ways to make peacekeeping better, including improvements to planning and performance, increasing the participation of women in peace and security, preventing and responding to instances of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers, and building a rapid-deployment capability for peacekeeping.

I contributed to the session on the participation of women in peace and security outlining actions currently undertaken by Ireland in that area and confirming our commitment to increase the participation of women at senior decision-making and leadership levels in the Irish defence forces.

The conference was also addressed by representatives of NATO and two NGOs. NATO highlighted the ongoing and prospective areas of cooperation in capability development, in preparation for deployment, training and actual deployment. The NGOs supported the reform of peacekeeping and the renewed focus on addressing sexual exploitation and abuse.

The event’s Communiqué signed by over 60 countries including Ireland, set out ambitious new targets for increasing the role of women in peacekeeping and improving the speed of deployments.