Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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79. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his visit to New York; the persons who travelled with him from his Department; the meetings he attended; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29855/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I visited the United Nations Headquarters for the official launch of Ireland’s campaign for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the term 2021-2022 on 2 July. Such formal launches are commonly part of Security Council election campaigns.

In addition to the launch event I attended a ceremony to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Ireland’s participation in UN peacekeeping and to honour the Irish citizens who have died while on UN peacekeeping service.

I also met with the Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, with whom I discussed the work of the Commission for the Status of Women, the bureau of which Ireland is currently chairing, and girls’ education.

At a meeting with Mr. Mark Lowcock, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), we discussed the most pressing current humanitarian crises and Ireland's chairmanship of the OCHA Donors Support Group.

I took the opportunity of my visit to UN Headquarters to meet with the representatives of a wide range of Member States to discuss issues on the UN agenda which are of concern to them and to raise Ireland’s Security Council candidature. In this regard, among those I met were representatives of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the 54-member African Group. While visiting UN Headquarters I was accompanied by four officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.