Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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134. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will outline Ireland’s major achievements as a member of the UN Security Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4460/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s two-year term on the UN Security Council, which ended on 31 December, was underpinned by three core principles: building peace; strengthening conflict prevention; and ensuring accountability. Working in line with those principles, we secured a number of important outcomes that are already making a real difference for people in conflict-affected countries.

Building on the extraordinary experience and expertise of Irish peacekeepers, we negotiated a ground-breaking Resolution on Peacekeeping Transitions. Resolution 2594 – which was supported by all 15 Council members – aims to ensure that, when UN peacekeepers leave, peace is sustained.

We partnered with the US to negotiate Resolution 2664, a landmark initiative that established a horizontal carve-out for humanitarian activities across all UN sanctions regimes. It ensures that the Council can make use of sanctions without impeding the provision of humanitarian assistance.

In 2021 and 2022, Ireland and Norway led negotiations on successive renewals of the vital Syria Humanitarian cross-border resolution, ensuring that humanitarian aid can continue to reach over four million Syrians. We worked hard to secure a further renewal in early January, just after we left the Council.

The EU-led crisis management mission, Operation Althea, plays an indispensable role in safeguarding stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ireland led negotiations on the renewal of the Mission’s Security Council authorisation in October 2022 and, through painstaking diplomacy, secured unanimous agreement on that text.

We led the Council’s work on Ethiopia, focusing international attention on the catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by the war, and supporting the mediation efforts of the UN Secretary-General and the African Union.

We used our seat on the Council to deliver consistent, principled and powerful criticism of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. We continue to do everything we can, at the UN and elsewhere, to support Ukraine.

Ireland co-chaired the Council’s informal expert group on Women, Peace and Security, and the promotion of gender equality was a golden thread running through all of our work on the Council. We consistently prioritised the defence of the human rights of the women of Afghanistan.

When Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in the occupied Palestinian territory last May, we convened a meeting of Council members to address the issue of the protection of journalists. Members of the media spoke of the dangers they face, and highlighted the killing of Pierre Zakrzewski in Ukraine, and of many other journalists.

Working with Niger, Ireland chaired the Council’s informal expert group on climate and security and led negotiations on what would have been the Council’s first ever Resolution on that topic. Although the Resolution was ultimately vetoed by Russia, it attracted very wide support from across the UN membership, pushing the agenda forward significantly.