Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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318. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on the recent meeting of the United Nations Security Council. [27999/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will focus my response on Ireland’s engagement since the Deputy previously requested an update in March 2021.

Since 10 May, the Security Council has met four times on the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. At the Security Council Open Debate on the situation on 16 May, I made it clear that the Council and its Members have a responsibility to speak out, and send a united message that the cycle of violence must end now. I welcome the ceasefire announced last Thursday, which must now be supported and implemented. Our immediate focus must be on getting vital humanitarian assistance to those who need it.

In the context of our role as Security Council Facilitator on the Iran nuclear agreement (the JCPOA), we continue to work to restore full compliance. I discussed this with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif in Dublin last Wednesday. This followed on from my visit to Iran in March. I am pleased at progress in the talks in Vienna, and hope that agreement can be reached. I have also discussed the JCPOA with US Secretary of State Blinken and other Security Council Members.

We continue to work closely with Norway as co-penholders on the humanitarian situation in Syria. I visited Bab al-Hawa in January, and saw first-hand the vital role that the one remaining UN-authorised crossing plays in the provision of humanitarian assistance. Since then I have had regular discussions on this issue with counterparts, including last week with the Foreign Ministers of France, Russia and Iran. The coming period will be crucial as we work towards ensuring the renewal of the mandate for cross-border operations in July.

Ireland has also been at the forefront of efforts to address the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Ireland initiated Council meetings on the dire humanitarian situation and the ongoing lack of humanitarian access in February and March, and led the negotiation of a Council statement in April, the first time the Security Council has spoken on this issue since the start of this crisis. We will work to maintain the Council’s focus on this issue in the months ahead.

Improving peacekeeping mandates is a priority throughout our term. A specific focus is the protection of civilians during peacekeeping transitions and I will speak at an event that Ireland is organising tomorrow, 26 May, during UN Protection of Civilians week.

Over the past two months, the Council has addressed the situations in Iraq, Yemen, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, the Sahel, the Great Lakes Region, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Myanmar. We been active in the negotiation of resolutions on strengthening the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia and on UN support for the Libya Ceasefire Monitoring Mechanism.

I participated in a number of Security Council meetings over the past two months, including on post-pandemic recovery and addressing root causes of conflict in Africa; multilateralism and the United Nations; the protection of indispensable civilian objects; mine action; and UN cooperation with regional organisations. Promoting human rights is also integral to our approach across the Council’s country-specific and thematic agenda items.