Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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23. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to report on his recent visit to the UN as it relates to the SDG Declaration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41608/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 62 together.

I visited New York from 16 to 21 September for the opening of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly. The Taoiseach, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and the Minister for Health were also present for a series of high level UN meetings, held at senior political level.

I attended the opening high level meeting on 18 and 19 September, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) summit. It was addressed by the Taoiseach, given Ireland's role as co-facilitator for the negotiation of the Political Declaration, which was adopted by the Summit. There was a series of other high level meetings during the week on Climate and Health, and I spoke at the high level meeting on Financing for Development. I also had an intense series of political meetings, including bilateral meetings with Ministers from a wide range of countries.

In all of my meetings, I emphasised the urgency of re-invigorating international commitment to the achievement of the SDGs and noted that progress on the Goals has been set back by multiple interlocking crises globally, including the existential threat of climate change. I highlighted the need to address the global crisis of food security and malnutrition, and underscored Ireland's commtment, which includes investment of over €284 million on food, agriculture and nutrition in 2023. The Taoiseach and I were also clear in our statements that Ireland will meet our pledge to provide at least €225 million in international climate finance annually by 2025.

I welcome the strong Political Declaration on the SDGs which was adopted by the Summit. It makes clear the scale of the international commitment required if progress on the SDGs is to be accelerated, with only 15% of the targets achieved at this point. The Government is fully committed to progress on the Goals, at home and abroad, including through our international development programme, led by the Department of Foreign Affairs.